£128m Richard Hughes disaster-class comes back to haunt Liverpool | OneFootball

Richard Hughes' summer transfer window last term was expected to change things for Liverpool.

He spent over £450 million on new players in an attempt to help the Reds retain their Premier League title and potentially win the Champions League.

And, on paper, the additions of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak promised to do exactly that but, for one reason or another, that isn't how things panned out.

They were knocked out in the round of 16 of the Champions League and they also only managed to finish in fifth place which, after their massive summer of spending, was far from ideal.

These poor performances led to fans demanding that new players were brought in and even made some of the Liverpool players decide they were better off elsewhere.

Of all the departures though, Mohamed Salah's is the one that has hit Liverpool the hardest and, no matter what Hughes tries to do, he can't seem to rectify it with another one of his disaster-classes feeling like it's about to arise.

Real Madrid could be about to sign Yan Diomande

Yan Diomande was the player who most Liverpool fans thought would be brought in to replace Salah.

Even before the summer transfer window opened, the Ivorian was being linked with an Anfield switch with Liverpool briefing most media outlets that he was their number one target.

In the end, however, Diomande chose against making a Liverpool switch and it was reported that he'd prefer his next move to be Paris Saint-Germain.

So, from then on, there was only really the Parisians being linked with a move but, since hardly any movement has been made regarding the deal, other clubs are starting to join the race and now, according to Fabrizio Romano, Real Madrid are 'in talks' with RB Leipzig about a potential move for the attacker.

"Manchester City have gone quiet on Yan Diomande days ago after calls to check the situation, same for Arsenal," he wrote.

"Diomande has only opened doors to Real Madrid since he agreed personal terms with Paris Saint-Germain in June.

"Real Madrid now in club to club talks with Leipzig."

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Since PSG aren't signing Yan Diomande, Liverpool can't keep waiting around for Bradley Barcola

After Liverpool were told that Diomande didn't want to join them, their focus instantly changed towards making a move for Bradley Barcola.

A deal for the Frenchman made a lot of sense, if PSG were going to sign Diomande then Barcola would be put even further down the pecking order than he already is.

This would lead to even more fallings-out between the 23-year-old and Luis Enrique which is why the Reds made him their main target.

However, now that Diomande isn't likely to join PSG, there's no way that the Ligue 1 outfit will let him go.

PSG were already digging their heels in and were asking for around £128 million to allow him to leave but, now that their deal for Diomande looks likely to be off, there's no reason for them to move him on, unless they can't get him to agree to a new contract, of course.

There are obviously still a lot of moving parts in each of these deals so anything could end up happening but, if Hughes continues waiting around to agree a deal for Barcola, it could end up being another disaster-class for the sporting director.

That is, especially if they don't end up adding anymore attackers to their ranks this summer.