Liverpool's Bold Moves for Munoz and Diomande

Liverpool have ripped up the script for their post-Mohamed Salah attack.

First came the ambush. While Newcastle believed they had Victor Munoz wrapped up, Liverpool stepped in, moved quicker, and walked away with the Osasuna winger for £34.5m. Now they are prepared to go far higher, signalling a willingness to pay £86m for RB Leipzig phenomenon Yan Diomande as they chase their top wide target of the summer.

This is not a one-or-the-other rebuild. It is a full-scale remodelling of the frontline.

Liverpool hijack Newcastle’s Munoz move

Newcastle thought the hard work was done. A £33.3m package agreed with Osasuna – £29m up front, £4.3m in add-ons. Personal terms sorted. Agent fees settled. The 22-year-old had indicated he wanted St James’ Park. A medical in the United States was being lined up.

Then everything stalled.

In the last 24 hours of negotiations, Munoz’s camp told Newcastle to wait. Liverpool, who had been in the conversation all along, seized their moment. They accelerated talks, closed the gap, and left Newcastle – once again – wondering how a deal they felt was theirs had slipped away, just as it did in previous windows with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike.

Munoz has now signed a six-year contract at Anfield after completing his medical with Liverpool’s staff in the US. For a player still at the World Cup with Spain, the timing underlines how determined Liverpool were to get this done before the market truly exploded.

Why Munoz fits Iraola’s Liverpool

This is Andoni Iraola’s first big attacking addition and it tells you plenty about the direction of travel.

Munoz is quick, direct, and comfortable in chaos. Primarily a left winger, he can also operate on the right and through the middle. That flexibility was a key part of Liverpool’s brief this summer: more pace, more versatility, more ways to reshuffle when injuries strike and form dips.

He arrives with a strong pedigree. Munoz came through the systems at both Barcelona and Real Madrid, and it was Carlo Ancelotti who handed him his LaLiga debut in May 2025, sending him on for Vinicius Junior in El Clasico against Barca. From there, a five-year move to Osasuna followed, where last season he played 34 league games, scoring six times and adding two assists.

Inside Liverpool, his ability to play multiple roles is also seen as important for squad balance. It should allow Iraola to integrate highly rated youngster Rio Ngumoha without blocking his pathway, rather than dropping a specialist in one position directly on top of him.

Crucially, Munoz is not the Salah replacement. He is one piece of a larger puzzle. The main event, as far as the hierarchy are concerned, is still Diomande.

Diomande: the £86m statement in waiting

Liverpool’s interest in Yan Diomande has not cooled with Munoz through the door. If anything, it has sharpened.

They have indicated a readiness to go to £86m for the 19-year-old Leipzig winger, a figure that would obliterate the Premier League record for a teenager. That benchmark currently sits at the £58.9m Manchester United agreed to pay Lille for Leny Yoro in the summer of 2024.

Leipzig, though, are not rushing to cash in. The German club want significantly more than Liverpool’s starting point and would prefer to keep Diomande for at least another season, tying him to a new contract on improved terms from his current wage of around £33,000 a week.

Given where he was a year ago, the scale of the chase is remarkable.

This time last season, Diomande had just six senior starts for Leganes as they slipped out of LaLiga. He scored in two of those games – against Espanyol and Valladolid – in a side that failed to find the net in the other four. That brief burst of promise was enough for Leipzig to pay €20m (£17.3m) to bring him to the Bundesliga.

They were rewarded with a revelation.

Diomande has become one of Europe’s most exhilarating young wingers: lightning over the turf, unpredictable in one-on-one situations, and already refining the tactical side of his game. The traits you cannot coach are there in abundance; the ones you can are being drilled in fast.

Now the very biggest clubs are circling. Paris Saint-Germain are among those pushing hard, and Leipzig know they are sitting on a player who will not come cheap to anyone. Liverpool’s £86m willingness is a marker, not a final price.

Chiesa squeezed as Liverpool reload

All of this movement has immediate consequences for Federico Chiesa.

The Italy winger arrived at Anfield under Arne Slot but never truly convinced the former head coach, making just one Premier League start last season. His future was already uncertain coming into this window, even before Iraola walked through the door.

The new manager wants to offer everyone a clean slate and there is a belief at the club that Chiesa’s profile actually suits Iraola’s high-energy, front-foot football better than Slot’s approach. On paper, he should be a better fit.

Reality may be harsher.

Munoz is in. Another wide attacker – with Diomande at the top of that list – is expected. That combination tightens the squeeze in Chiesa’s favoured zones and complicates any route to the regular minutes he craves.

At 28, with two years left on his deal and interest from Italy, he wants to be a guaranteed starter. Right now, Anfield looks an increasingly crowded place to make that happen.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are not waiting around. They have already bloodied a rival’s nose for Munoz and planted a flag in the Diomande race with a potential record-breaking offer.

The Salah era is edging towards its epilogue. The question is not whether Liverpool will change, but just how bold they are prepared to be to make Diomande the face of what comes next.