Liverpool Kickstart Rebuild with Munoz and Diomande Targets
Liverpool have not waited for the Salah era to end before starting the rebuild. They have kicked the door in.
A £34.5m raid on Osasuna for Victor Munoz has already bloodied Newcastle’s nose. Now they are prepared to put £86m on the table for RB Leipzig phenomenon Yan Diomande, a 19-year-old who has gone from Leganes relegation scrap to Europe’s most wanted winger in the space of a year.
This is not tinkering. This is a full-scale reset of Liverpool’s attack.
Liverpool hijack Munoz deal – Newcastle left stunned
Newcastle thought Victor Munoz was theirs.
A £33.3m package agreed – £29m up front, £4.3m in add-ons. Personal terms sorted. The 22-year-old had told them he wanted the move. Agent fees in place. A medical being lined up in the United States. All the boxes ticked.
Then the pause.
In the last 24 hours before the finish line, Munoz’s camp told Newcastle to wait. Liverpool, long in the background, stepped through the gap. This was not a late, desperate lunge; they had been “at the table” throughout. But when the moment came, it was Anfield, not St James’ Park, that he chose.
Newcastle, still smarting from previous near-misses involving Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, are again left asking how a deal that looked done slipped away at the last.
Munoz, who has signed a six-year contract, completed his medical with Liverpool’s staff in the US. For Andoni Iraola, newly installed and steeped in LaLiga knowledge, this is a first major statement: a versatile, high-pace winger who fits the modern Liverpool template.
Why Munoz fits Iraola’s Liverpool
Liverpool wanted more flexibility in their forward line. They have it now.
Munoz is primarily a left-sided winger, direct and quick, but comfortable on the right and capable of operating through the middle. That profile answers several questions at once: pace in transition, depth when injuries strike, and genuine competition for starting spots.
Inside the club, his versatility is also seen as a way to strengthen without blocking the pathway of highly rated youngster Rio Ngumoha. Munoz can shift roles, switch flanks, or even occupy central zones, leaving room for the academy talent to breathe.
His pedigree is not insignificant either. Munoz came through the youth systems of both Barcelona and Real Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti handed him his LaLiga debut for Madrid in May 2025, sending him on for Vinicius Junior in a Clásico against Barca. From there he moved to Osasuna on a five-year deal, playing 34 league games last season, scoring six and assisting two.
Now he lands at Anfield with a six-year contract and a manager who knows exactly what he is buying.
Diomande: Liverpool’s main prize
Munoz is not the Salah replacement. He is part of the answer, not the whole.
Liverpool’s top winger target remains Yan Diomande, and their intent is clear: they are willing to pay £86m for the Leipzig star, according to Sky in Germany. That figure would smash the Premier League record fee for a teenager, eclipsing the £58.9m Manchester United agreed to sign Leny Yoro from Lille in the summer of 2024.
Leipzig, though, want more.
They paid €20m – around £17.3m – to sign Diomande from Leganes last summer. At that point, his senior CV consisted of six starts in a relegated side. He scored in two of those games, against Espanyol and Valladolid, in a team that failed to find the net in the other four. Leipzig saw enough to gamble.
They were right. Diomande has exploded.
Lightning quick, unpredictable, and devastating in one-on-one situations, he has become one of the Bundesliga’s most thrilling attackers. Coaches talk about the things you cannot teach; Diomande has those in abundance and is absorbing the rest. The biggest clubs are circling. The rest are simply priced out.
Leipzig would like to keep him for at least one more season and are ready to offer a new contract with a significant rise on his current wage of around £33,000 per week. For them, another year of development and a higher future fee is the ideal scenario. For Liverpool, the risk is waiting and watching his price soar again.
What is not in doubt: £86m is only the opening argument.
Multiple signings for a post-Salah frontline
Liverpool’s move for Munoz was never going to close the door on Diomande. The plan this summer is clear: multiple attacking signings to absorb the loss of Mohamed Salah rather than a single, like-for-like replacement.
Munoz brings flexibility and depth. Diomande, if they can get him, would bring star power and long-term upside. Between them, they would reshape the wide areas for the next generation.
Paris Saint-Germain are among several elite clubs chasing Diomande, and Leipzig are under no pressure to sell. The race is fierce, the fee rising, and Liverpool are trying to move early before the auction becomes uncontrollable.
Chiesa squeezed as competition grows
All of this has direct consequences for Federico Chiesa.
The Italy winger arrived with big expectations but found opportunities limited under former head coach Arne Slot, making just one Premier League start last season. Iraola wants to offer a clean slate and there is a belief inside Liverpool that Chiesa’s game is better suited to the Spaniard’s aggressive, high-tempo style.
The reality, though, is harsh.
Munoz is already in. Another winger, likely operating in Chiesa’s preferred zones, is being actively pursued. That shrinks the space for a 28-year-old who has two years left on his deal, wants to be a guaranteed starter and has interest from clubs back in Italy.
As things stand, a bigger role at Anfield looks difficult to promise.
Liverpool have moved first, moved decisively, and shown they are willing to go to the edge of the market for the right talent. Munoz is through the door. Diomande is the next target in their sights.
If they land both, the shape of their attack – and perhaps the balance of power at the top of the Premier League – could look very different by the end of this window.
