Much of Liverpool's summer has been spent watching Yan Diomande complete take-on after take-on at the 2026 World Cup, including against Arsenal's Piero Hincapie.

Of course, they weren't watching for no reason, either. The Reds launched their bid to sign the RB Leipzig winger and, although that bid was rejected, he looked destined for Anfield.

The bad news for the Premier League giants is that it's not just them tuning into Ivory Coast games and Paris Saint-Germain have just sent the Reds back to square one, stealing pole position to sign Diomande.

It leaves Liverpool scrambling for alternatives and without the sudden urge to watch Ivory Coast's World Cup campaign.

Liverpool open talks to sign £103m star

So, what next for Liverpool? They still need a winger to replace Mohamed Salah on the right-hand side and it's unlikely to be Diomande.

As we speak, Michael Edwards will be frantically typing away in his data machine, hoping for it to be spit out a player simply waiting to burst into life and transform Anfield's frontline just like Salah once did.

Names like Said El Mala and Yankuba Minteh have both been mentioned. They certainly tick the box for direct and quick, but may not necessarily bring end product. Instead, even if it's not Diomande, the Reds may not be able to avoid spending an outrageous sum to solve their biggest problem.

According to TEAMtalk, Liverpool have opened talks with Bradley Barcola's camp and have been informed that the PSG winger is expected to leave the French club with a valuation of €120m (£103m).

PSG, however, tell a different story. As reported by David Ornstein, their stance is that Barcola is not for sale and have set an asking price of more than £116m.

It creates major questions for Liverpool, who will need to spend at least more than £100m to land the 23-year-old if he's allowed to leave PSG at all in the coming months.

How Barcola can become Iraola's new Kroupi

It's easy to see why Barcola is the next name on Liverpool's shortlist after Diomande. The Frenchman is a direct, quick winger who's also capable of producing end product.

He'd also be an excellent match for Andoni Iraola, who is set to reintroduce the sound of heavy metal football at Anfield next season with a new winger drumming the beat of Anfield intensity.

In terms of style, Iraola would be getting his Liverpool version of Eli Junior Kroupi, who thrived in his first season in the Premier League as a teenager last season.

The interesting comparison between Kroupi and Barcola is their output. Whilst the Bournemouth star primarily operates as a forward, who drops deep to get possession at times, and Barcola is a winger, both are out-and-out goalscorers rather than creators.

When looking at the profile of alternative wide men that Liverpool currently have at their disposal, the majority are the exact opposite.

Rio Ngumoha is a take-on artist and is yet to prove an instinctive goalscoring prowess. Victor Munoz is of a similar mold and although Cody Gakpo is a goalscorer, he has also proved to be too one-dimensional with the way he finds those goals.

Barcola is a good in between. Like Kroupi, he rarely created goals for his teammates last season and was instead the man asked to provide in front of goal from wide.

PSG's asking price is steep, but the numbers suggest that Barcola has all the potential in the world to eventually replace Salah's numbers in front of goal as an inside forward and hand Iraola his next Kroupi in the process.