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The golden £35m Liverpool transfer that could supercharge their summer window A long-standing Liverpool target has suddenly found himself back on the transfer market - could he fill the defensive void? As recent injuries and a mildly concerning pre-season defeat to Leeds have combined to prove, Liverpool are in desperate need of a new centre-half heading into the new Premier League season – but seem no closer to signing one. The focus in the transfer market appears to have been on finding a permanent replacement for Mohamed Salah (Bradley Barcola is the preferred target as it stands) but the need to shore up the defence appears no less desperate, and the lack of apparent activity – or even rumours of activity – is a source of some concern. Virgil van Dijk is still around but the only other centre-backs on the books are Joe Gomez, yet again sidelined by injury, and the inexperienced pair of Jérémy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni, themselves both making gradual returns from lengthy spells on the treatment table. New head coach Andoni Iraola is desperately short of options. Fortunately, a solution may have just presented itself, and Liverpool may be able to profit from the misfortune of another team. The £35m transfer whose collapse could benefit Liverpool One defender that Liverpool have monitored for a considerable length of time is 22-year-old Sporting and Ivory Coast centre-half Ousmane Diomande – but for the past few weeks, it had seemed like a certainty that he would sign for Nottingham Forest instead. Numerous reports from the Portuguese press suggested that a transfer fee had been agreed, in the region of €40m (£35m), and that it was only a matter of sorting out a few formalities. Forest appeared to be on the brink of a coup. Then it all came crashing down. On Thursday, Sport Witness summarised fresh reports which suggested that negotiations had fallen apart due to a combination of a disagreement over the structure of the deal and personal animosity between the negotiating teams. Diomande, it is said, will now be reintegrated back into first-team training, the deal dead in the water. While all this went on, Liverpool stood by silently. Perhaps they had decided, for one reason or another, that Diomande wasn’t for them, or maybe they wanted to hold their powder on signing a defender until they knew how much they would have to spend to sign their new right winger. Whatever the reason, they never joined the bidding. Perhaps that means they never will, but we now know for certain that Diomande is available for a surprisingly reasonable price, and the Reds now have more time to make their mind up. It may be a window of opportunity that they should leap through head first. Why Diomande is a player Liverpool should sign if they can It may be that Liverpool have cooled their well-attributed interest in Diomande due to his form over the 2025/26 season. In a campaign which was derailed at times by injury issues, he managed just 17 appearances in the Primeira Liga and struggled in certain areas, particularly in his one-on-one defending. All the evidence from previous seasons suggested that was a blip, however. Diomande won just 38% of his ground duels last year – an undeniably concerning statistic – but it was 53% the season before and 64% before that. And his output in other areas remains impressive. He’s still strong in the air, comfortable on the ball and an excellent passer whose distribution provides Sporting with a strong platform for possession. Given that Liverpool could use a ball-playing defender to pair with Van Dijk, Diomande seems to fit the bill. It helps that the Ivorian international, who made one appearance at the World Cup this summer, is extremely quick. He has explosive acceleration for a centre-back, and that extra burst of pace would be useful given that the ageing Van Dijk is beginning to slow down. Diomande’s powers of recovery are one of his greatest strengths. On paper, a fit and healthy Diomande – although he missed some time, he ended the season with in one piece with a run of games – is the sort of defender that Liverpool are looking for. One who is perhaps younger than they might like, given the age of Leoni and Jacquet, but also one with 175 senior appearances to his name for club and country. He isn’t as green as the youngsters currently on the books at Anfield. Whatever Liverpool’s reasons for declining to get involved while Forest were haggling unsuccessfully over a deal, they have been handed a chance to change their minds. Better alternatives may present themselves in the last few weeks of the transfer window, perhaps, but as it stands the idea of signing Diomande is one that the Reds may well reconsider. Doing so may well prove to be wise, under the circumstances.