Diomande is Forever

Yan Diomande has been linked with Liverpool. He doesn't have even 2,400 minutes of club experience yet he looks to be just what the Reds need.

Liverpool need wingers. I know it, you know it and lord knows Arne Slot knows it. Presumably Richard Hughes has an inkling about this too but who should he target?

This was one of the issues discussed on the latest Distance Covered podcast, for which I was the guest. The conversation drifted towards whether Anthony Gordon or Yan Diomande would be the best option, as both are rumoured to be of interest to the Reds.

There’s a clear difference between the two. One is a well-known quantity of peak-age. Homegrown to the point of being a Liverpool fan from the city. With 233 club games under his belt, you know what you’d be getting with Gordon. He fits the profile of a Reds signing.

But what about the more exciting, wildcard option? A 19-year-old with fewer club games in his career than Hugo Ekitike has played this season? The potential in Diomande is frightening. The first goal alone in this compilation show you what Liverpool are crying out for in wide areas; pace, movement, finishing.

While any player looks good in their highlight reel, the teenager’s data compares well against the top talent across the continent. As we shall see, the Bundesliga appears to have a leading trinity of wingers in Michael Olise, Luis Díaz and Yan Diomande.

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For a player with such little football under his belt, it is truly remarkable how swiftly the RB Leipzig winger has become one of the most sought after footballers around.

As early as last May, when he’d made just 10 appearances for Leganes, Scouted Football published a lengthy Diomande profile. “The backstory is interesting, the profile is eye-catching, the potential is exciting, and the bottom line is this: keep tabs on Yan Diomandé,” it concluded. That’s high praise to receive for 545 minutes of professional football.

He then moved to Germany last summer. It’s notable how often Diomande has featured for Leipzig given his tender age. The only league match he has missed was thanks to representing Côte d'Ivoire at the Cup of Nations.

As he turned 19 in November, 2025/26 is classed as his age 18 season. Only seven players of that age or under have accumulated more minutes in the big leagues this term. No matter his talent level, playing that often is a very positive sign when so callow.

If you look at any Bundesliga season for players of this age range since 1988/89, only nine have played a higher proportion of the possible minutes. Have you heard of Jude Bellingham, Mario Götze, Christian Pulisic, Jadon Sancho or André Schürrle? They’re some of the players in question. Diomande currently sits a few spots above a 17-year-old Florian Wirtz in these standings too.

We can do a similar comparison which bodes well before we get into the more detailed data. Diomande has currently made 13 goal contributions in the Bundesliga, by scoring eight and setting up five.

This is joint-20th most in the FBRef database across England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain when no older than 18 at the start of a season. It’s level with what Robbie Fowler and Wayne Rooney produced at that age, one shy of the likes of Ryan Giggs and Raheem Sterling.

Some youngsters in the list were on penalty duty though; disregarding spot-kicks lifts Diomande slightly to joint-18th. Aside from Lamine Yamal, the players above him have all completed their campaigns too. Factoring in time played moves Yan the man up to joint-11th. If you’ve forgotten just how good Michael Owen was when he came through at Liverpool, study this chart.

There is an aspect to each of Diamonde’s goal scoring and assist providing that looks very encouraging. On the finishing front, his 10 league goals have been split perfectly between his left and right feet. What, no headers, Yan?

Yan Diomande league career shot map, via Understat

The positive in his chance creation comes through where his key passes are received and how he reaches the penalty area to deliver them. A line in The Transfer Flow’s analysis of Diomande from December will be music to Slot’s ears: “His strength allows him to duck and power through gaps to get into the wide areas of the box.”

We can see this on his Opta Analyst map of chances created in the Bundesliga. There are multiple examples of passes from around the edge of the penalty area into the centre of the danger zone. Diomande’s ability to get into the box would also enable him to deliver cutback passes, which has long been one of Slot’s favoured attacking strategies.

In open play alone, the teenage sensation ranks fourth in the Bundesliga for both chances created and expected assists. Though the top three is in a different order for each, it’s Olise, Díaz and Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid either way. Diomande splits the Bayern pair when it comes to the top three men in Germany for carries (of at least five metres) that end with the player setting up a chance too.

With the centre-forward options the Reds possess, this is the sort of winger they need, not someone like Cody Gakpo who will shoot (usually poorly) after carrying the ball to the edge of the box.

The Díaz/Diomande/Olise trend is a common theme no matter what research you conduct into the Leipzig man. Best 11 Scouting rate Diomande as the best inside forward in Germany behind Bayern’s wide men. He’s between Díaz and Olise for carries into the box per 90 minutes on Mark Stats while tucked in directly behind them in the Bundesliga standings for final third pass accuracy (with Aleix García and Alejandro Grimaldo the only non-Bayern players ahead of him). It’s always Díaz and Olise.

Liverpool got everything they could out of the former, on the pitch and in the accounts. They would love to own the latter. Is Diomande the answer to their search for a winger though? As he can play on either side, he might well be.

WT Analysis images of Diomande at left and right wing

Diomande is also the type of dribbler the Reds crave. Only Yamal has completed more take-ons in the big five leagues this season. There are just four men who’ve recorded at least as many carries over a longer average distance. The Leipzig youngster can cover ground with the ball like few other players in Europe.

This has been picked up in the aforementioned articles, as you would expect.

“His directness, powerful speed and physical robustness is perhaps the perfect blend for a long-distance progressor with the ball at his feet.”

Scouted Football

“He fits the profile of a high volume dribbler with some promise as a playmaker.”

The Transfer Flow

The more recent of these analyses also kindly provided his hudlstatsbomb radar for us to pore over.

The interesting number here is for possession-adjusted (PAdj) pressures, which is notable for two reasons. Diomande plays for a team that doesn’t press that much, at least by Opta’s measures. At 23.11, his rate is clear of Mohamed Salah (18.0) and Gakpo (15.5). As much as these things are tactical, the 19-year-old clearly has the work rate required for Slotball.

His other defensive indicators are also positive within the context of Liverpool. Diomande makes 0.8 final third possession regains per 90, which is top of the Leipzig tree and would take joint-gold with Salah for the Reds. He’s also behind only Hugo Ekitike and Wirtz for high defensive actions - tackles, interceptions and clearances in the opposition half - as per Mark Stats.

These aren’t the sort of things that excite you when thinking of an electric young winger but they matter. It seems there are no boxes Diomande doesn’t tick. His age means he should only get better too.

Where do we sign?