‘Advanced talks’ – Fabrizio Romano says Liverpool target closing in on half-price £34m transfer

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Empire of the Kop

·22 de julho de 2026

‘Advanced talks’ – Fabrizio Romano says Liverpool target closing in on half-price £34m transfer

Nottingham Forest are confident of closing a deal for Ousmane Diomande this summer.

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Vídeos OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano reports on X (formerly Twitter) that the Tricky Trees have sent a proposal valued at around €40m [£34.1m] for the Sporting CP centre-back.

Sources close to Liverpool had previously indicated that the Reds’ recruitment team admired the 22-year-old centre-half.

Nottingham Forest could win Ousmane Diomande transfer

It’s remarkable work by Forest if the Premier League outfit does indeed manage to secure the footballer for below Sporting’s €80m [£68.2m] release clause.

🚨🌳 Nottingham Forest, confident to close Ousmane Diomande deal with Sporting shortly after bid sent. Proposal will be way below €80m release clause; around €40m total package add-ons included.
– quarta-feira, 22 de julho de 2026

🚨🌳 Nottingham Forest are in advanced talks to sign Ousmane Diomandé from Sporting. Negotiations underway between clubs and with the centre back’s camp, #NFFC are on it to get the agreement done.
– terça-feira, 21 de julho de 2026

And something of a blow for Liverpool, we’d argue, given the slew of links in recent years.

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More to the point, it seems to be a strange one to overlook at that potential price point, given we’re in obvious need of centre-half reinforcements this summer.

Yes, a veteran operator would be preferable. However, when you have to accept that a more local operator like Maxence Lacroix, with genuine Premier League experience, is going to cost north of £55m, it seems strange that Liverpool aren’t keeping an eye on options like Diomande this summer.

£34.1m would be a bargain for Liverpool

It’s worth highlighting from the off that the Ivory Coast international’s aerial threat does pose a potential problem for Liverpool’s recruitment. After all, an aerial duel win rate of 57.4% per 90 (in the Portuguese top-flight last year) doesn’t compare favourably to our centre-back duo last term.

* Ousmane Diomande’s aerial threat compared to Liverpool’s starting centre-back partnership in top-flight action in 2025/26 (Fotmob)

Regardless, £34.1m is the exact kind of price point that should be appealing to Liverpool. At the very least, it proves the point that there is value to be found in deals abroad, albeit at the cost of Premier League experience.

But perhaps that’s less of a concern if Richard Hughes and Co. are focusing their attentions on a more experienced operator to complement our options in the backline.