Richard Hughes ready to break record to sign star player | OneFootball

Richard Hughes will have to break another record in order to sign an exciting young player for Liverpool.

The club's sporting director has broken a number of records during his time at Anfield.

Last summer he broke the club's transfer record twice. First for Florian Wirtz and then for Alexander Isak. The latter was a British transfer record.

So far, Hughes' hard work isn't being seen with results on the pitch. Wirtz and Isak haven't got going at Liverpool yet even though we are in mid-November.

The reality is that players need time to settle and adjust. Arne Slot also needs patience to figure out how to incorporate five or six new players into his squad.

That's not an easy task.

Liverpool's rebuild has always been one concentrated on the future. It's not about the now but the next five to ten years.

And for that reason, Hughes' work has only just begun. He's got more important decisions to make when it comes to the club's recruitment.

Although a lot of change happened in the summer, there were also a number of areas where Hughes did not strengthen enough.

A lot of talk will about about missing out on Marc Guehi but that was not the only transfer that Liverpool did not address.

Throughout the summer Richard Hughes had tried to replace Luis Diaz. In fact, he had tried to do this the previous summer as well with an approach for Anthony Gordon and then in January by trying to sign Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Ultimately, in the summer Malick Fofana and Bradley Barcola were targeted but none of these deals came to fruition.

It means Liverpool are still searching for their Diaz replacement, which has left Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha having to take on the mantle. The former has done well but would benefit from some rotation. The latter is still not quite ready for senior football.

So it comes as no surprise that Liverpool are now being linked to Yan Diomande by BILD.

An 18-year-old left-winger who only arrived at RB Leipzig from Leganes in the summer, he's been a revelation so far with seven goal contributions in 11 games and just 618 minutes spent on the pitch.

It means Diomande is averaging a goal or assist every 88 minutes this season for his club side. He also netted two goals in two games at international level for the Ivory Coast.

© IMAGO - Yan Diomande Liverpool

He's a very direct player, who excels at bringing the ball forward through progressive runs and taking his opponents on.

Ultimately, he'd be an ideal fit for Liverpool. But in order to buy him, Hughes would have to break Leipzig's club record sale.

The report from Bild claims that Leipzig want €100m for Diomande, which would break the previous record spent by Manchester City to acquire Josko Gvardiol.

Whether Hughes is prepared to pay that, the report doesn't say.

But Liverpool do have allies at Red Bull, especially in Jurgen Klopp who works for the club, and who makes important decisions as the Global Head of Soccer.

So perhaps his presence could make negotiations a little easier.