Talks collapsed: Liverpool now in frame to complete £34.2m central defender signing
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Liverpool could be set to take advantage of Nottingham Forest’s collapsed negotiations with Sporting Lisbon for Ousmane Diomande.French journalist Sebastien Vidal reports on X (formerly Twitter) that the £34.2m-valued centre-back has “long been on the Reds’ radar”.The Merseysiders have suffered a multitude of injury concerns in the backline in recent months.Nottingham Forest’s loss could be Liverpool’s gainWith the greatest of respect to Forest, we’re struggling to understand how £34.2m is proving to be a major stumbling block in their pursuit of the Primeira Liga star. Liverpool pourrait profiter de l’échec des négociations entre Nottingham Forest et le Sporting pour Ousmane Diomande.
Le défenseur ivoirien de 22 ans, estimé autour de 40 M€, reste disponible et figure depuis longtemps sur les radars des Reds, qui cherchent à renforcer leur… — Sébastien Vidal (@SebEcrivainFoot) August 7, 2026Still, if Oliver Glasner’s men are seriously not interested in evolving their interest further this summer, we’d hope that Liverpool are looking at Diomande as a potential market opportunity.Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustAs we’ve already discussed extensively at Empire of the Kop, it seems that any further business to address the gaps in the squad will depend on our talks with PSG to sign Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye.The Frenchman, one might reasonably expect, will set Liverpool back in the region of £100m-plus, with the Parisien giants hoping to secure closer to £145m for the 23-year-old.Why would Ousmane Diomande be an attractive signing?Ousmane Diomande’s ball-playing ability is certainly worth bragging about, with him demonstrating remarkable accuracy over both short and long distances.
Ousmane Diomande’s stats (per 90) Percentiles 0.04 xA 71st 68.77 successful passes 88th 93.1% successful passes percentage 95th 3.54 accurate long balls 74th 67.1% accurate long balls percentage 97th * Ousmane Diomande’s stats in the 2025/26 Primeira Liga (Fotmob)That’s not to suggest the Ivorian is simply flawless across all aspects. Ousmane Diomande’s stats (per 90) Percentiles 48.6% duels won percentage 9th 57.4% aerial duels won percentage 44th Now, Diomande does play for a dominant side in Portugal, which we’re sure will influence the numbers we’re seeing.But we’d still hope to see a centre-back linked to Liverpool boasting impressive aerial prowess, given how the Premier League has become increasingly defined by set-piece play and physicality.