FSG could see £87m Liverpool bid accepted to sign Isak's new Gordon

Liverpool know that a lot rides on their form over the final weeks of the 2025/26 season, but with Alexander Isak back in first-team training, Arne Slot will hope that his side can start hitting the mark in the final third.

They could really do with the Sweden striker's quality. Since joining the Merseysiders from Newcastle United for a British-record £125m fee last August, Isak has had a difficult time, only scoring three times. The third of those goals came against Tottenham Hotspur in December, and Micky van de Ven's resulting tackle damaged Isak's leg and fractured his fibula. He has not played since.

The 26-year-old's return could be a turning point. Liverpool surely need it. The fifth-place Premier League side need to qualify for the Champions League, with the financial repercussions sure to be steep if they fail.

After all, Mohamed Salah is leaving this summer, and replacing him is not going to be a cakewalk.

Liverpool lining up Salah replacement

There is an acceptance at Liverpool that replacing Salah with a like-for-like winger is near on impossible. The Egyptian is not blessed with unique skills, but the artist of a one-of-a-kind skillset, creating for himself a devastating attacking edge over so many years at Anfield.

FSG would tell you that in Isak and Hugo Ekitike, who joined first last summer from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial £69m fee, they have found two world-class strikers capable of taking Salah's scoring load.

Even so, Federico Chiesa has been utilised sparingly by Slot, and Jeremie Frimpong is hardly the solution when Salah leaves.

That's why interest in RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande is growing. According to Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg, Liverpool "remain in contact with his agents", their initial talks dating back to December.

The Germans would be reluctant to part with their star forward, but have accepted the realities of the transfer market and have set a €100m (about £87m) price tag.

Why Diomande is perfect for Liverpool

Diomande does not need to step into Salah's boots. He is a direct and dangerous winger, but someone who can prove the perfect positional replacement by playing a different role, servicing the likes of Isak in the centre while still providing a clinical outlet.

It would be a different kind of attack, and one which could bear dividends for a Reds side who have looked blunt and incohesive throughout the campaign, so wasteful and lacking the sort of symbiotic connections that have been an Anfield staple over the years.

He only joined Leipzig from Leganes in Spain last summer. Six La Liga matches were all he started, but his growth has been exponential and suitors clearly believe he will continue to get better and better over the next several years.

Diomande would be the perfect long-term pick to replace Salah on the right, and he might even forge the kind of partnership that Isak needs to find the form he lost when travelling from Newcastle to Merseyside.

His skillset is not too dissimilar to Anthony Gordon's, further evidence that he could be Isak's perfect partner.

Gordon and Isak enjoyed a rich partnership across three shared years on Tyneside. They directly combined for 61 goals across all competitions, Isak's penetrating runs and clinical finishing working with Gordon's dynamism and pace out wide.

Still at St. James' Park, England star Gordon has taken on the focal role Isak played at his former club, but he was probably at his best when working with the Swedish striker.

Diomande is not identical to Gordon, but does have a similar sort of hunger for goals and assists, his pace and dynamism also benefiting his attacking teammates.

Whether he can translate those qualities to the Premier League, against tougher defenders and more intense football, remains to be seen. As Florian Wirtz has found out since moving to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen, you must be sharper and quicker on English shores, as you are afforded less time to dance in the final third.

He might only be 19, but Diomande has the potential to become a superstar, and though we've seen countless examples of talented young stars struggle to adapt when first moving to the Premier League, the Ivory Coast international has the unique blend of power and pace and punch to become a superstar and create a world-class partnership with Isak.

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