Liverpool Eyeing Yan Diomande and Bradley Barcola as Mohamed Salah Replacement Search Begins
Liverpool’s summer rebuild is already beginning to take shape, and on Anfield Index’s Media Matters, Dave Davis and David Lynch turned attention towards one of the biggest decisions facing the club, replacing Mohamed Salah.
With Salah having confirmed he will be leaving Liverpool this summer, the need for a major attacking addition is no longer theoretical. Davis introduced the subject by referencing reports from Paul Joyce, saying Liverpool are assessing both RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande and PSG’s Bradley Barcola.
That immediately placed Diomande and Barcola at the centre of the Liverpool transfer conversation. Davis summed up the scale of the task neatly: “One of them would be really good. Two would be dreamland probably this summer, wouldn’t it?”
For Liverpool, this is not simply about replacing goals. It is about replacing a defining forward, a reliable match winner and one of the standards setters of the modern era at Anfield.
Diomande and Barcola emerge as major targets
David Lynch confirmed that both forwards are admired by Liverpool. “I know that Liverpool like both players,” he said, while explaining that there may be a connection between the two situations because of PSG’s interest.
Lynch said Yan Diomande is “someone who is liked and that Liverpool have been looking at for a while.” That is significant because it suggests Liverpool’s interest is not a sudden reaction to Salah’s departure, but part of a longer running recruitment process.
Barcola’s name enters the discussion partly because of PSG’s position. Lynch explained: “If PSG are in the mix for Diomande, there’s potentially a chance there to get Barcola.”
That makes the situation more complex, but also potentially more interesting. Liverpool appear to be watching both players closely, and if PSG pursue Diomande seriously, Barcola could become attainable.
Lynch expects one frontline winger
Davis suggested that signing both would be “dreamland,” and Lynch’s response was realistic. “To be honest, probably feels like it’s going to be one or the other in terms of mainline wingers,” he said.
That line matters. Liverpool may need more than one forward, especially with Salah leaving and Federico Chiesa also discussed elsewhere in the podcast as likely to depart. Yet Lynch separated the idea of a major winger signing from a broader squad addition.
He said Liverpool could still sign “someone then who is of a less kind of high profile,” but made clear that Diomande and Barcola would fall into a different category. “They’d both be like big money signings, real frontline signings,” Lynch said.
That is the balance Liverpool must strike. Salah’s exit demands quality, but the squad also needs depth, variation and enough attacking options to avoid being left short again.
Salah replacement search defines summer
The scale of replacing Salah was underlined later in the podcast when Davis referenced Salah’s comments about leadership and setting standards. Lynch described Salah as “the standard setter for so long” and praised his “unbelievable level of professionalism.”
That is why Liverpool’s interest in Yan Diomande and Bradley Barcola cannot be viewed purely through scouting clips or transfer fees. The player who arrives will not simply inherit a position on the right or left of the front line. He will arrive into a dressing room losing one of its most influential figures.
Lynch was clear that Liverpool have to move into a new era. “You have to find the new versions of these players,” he said. “You do have to find new blood and that means you have to find new leaders as well.”
For Arne Slot, Richard Hughes and Liverpool’s recruitment team, the choice between Diomande and Barcola may become one of the defining calls of the summer. Lynch’s reading is that both are admired, both would be serious investments, but Liverpool are more likely to land one headline winger than two.
As Davis put it, “One of them would be really good.” For Liverpool, after Salah, it may need to be.
