Whilst the Liverpool first team have been jetting to various countries to bask in the glory of being Premier League champions their backroom staff have started working on how they can retain their title next season.
Arne Slot has made just one major signing since taking over as the Reds head coach in the shape of Federico Chiesa, who has played just 466 minutes of first team football this season.
It seems Jeremie Frimpong is all but a Liverpool player and that his arrival will be just the start of a busy summer of change on Merseyside.
Liverpool looking to replace a couple of first-team stars
One departure is guaranteed with Trent Alexander-Arnold, who ranked at no.43 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest Premier League players of all time, confirming last month he will not extend his contract with his boyhood club.
As is the nature of football, several players at the club are attracting interest from elsewhere, none more so than Luis Diaz, who has been heavily linked with Barcelona for the last 18 months.
The Colombian has been a vital part of Slot’s title winning machine, appearing across the frontline and registering 17 goals and eight assists across all competitions this season.
According to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, the LaLiga champions are ready to make him one of their priorities this summer and that Liverpool have therefore made contingency plans in case of his departure.
The report states they have ‘spoken to’ Lyon regarding Belgian attacker Malick Fofana. Despite the French sides considerable financial worries and significant underperformance this season, he has been a shining light, attracting interest across Europe scoring 11 times across all competitions.
Liverpool would want a deal to be no more than in the region of €20 million, while Lyon would want closer to €30 million in order to help ease their money woes.
In March, his agent told africafoot that ‘the choice of heart would be Liverpool’ when discussing Fofana’s next move. He went on to explain that the player has African heritage and he would like to follow in the footsteps of some of the Red’s African stars.
He said: “He has the potential to enter the rotation, and above all, we would like to see him succeed African legends such as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and El Hadji Diouf.”
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the move makes sense for both parties, should Diaz move on. Diaz has fought with Cody Gakpo for his place on Liverpool’s left-wing this season, and when you have two players of such quality, it is difficult to keep them both satisfied, and at just 20 years old, you would expect Fofana to be happy to play second fiddle for a few years.
Despite the links, however, there may be no rush to replace Diaz just yet with the star claiming recently that he wants to remain at Anfield for many years yet.
Fofana’s versatility across both wings would provide cover for when Mohamed Salah heads to AFCON next season, and with a market value of just €25 million according to Transfermarkt, any deal around that value would represent excellent business.
