Journalist confirms Liverpool want exciting wonderkid to replace Luis Diaz | OneFootball

© IMAGO - Malick Fofana Liverpool

Interest in Fofana is on the back-burner

Liverpool are already known to be fond admirers of Malick Fofana at Lyon after it was revealed earlier this season. The player actually addressed the rumours himself, feeling no doubt flattered and given a significant confidence boost that his career development is moving in the right direction.

But there has been little movement on the transfer link ever since the rumours first came about.

According to Sacha Tavolieri, this because he is not currently at the top of Liverpool's shopping list.

Speaking to Anfield Index, he said: "I can tell you that it's true that Liverpool are interested in Malick Fofana, but at the moment it's not priority case."

Given the reports concerning Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz, it makes plenty of sense that the club's attention is elsewhere for the time being. Other deals are more developed.

Although this does not necessarily mean that the transfer is unlikely to happen at all.

Tavolieri adds that 'Liverpool's current focus is "looking to see Luis Diaz" before making formal strides towards Fofana or similar profiles'.

As such, nothing should be expected until the transfer window opens, and given it's only open for 10 days between June 1 and June 10, a more realistic time-scale might be from July 1.

Diaz is favoured elsewhere and so it is entirely plausible that the Colombian will move on and in doing so, a spot will open up for Fofana to join. Previous reports considered Arsenal to be Liverpool's main rival for the Belgian, which could make things tricky when negotiations eventually heat up.

Lyon would only demand €50m (£42m) for him to move this summer.

But as mentioned earlier, a lot of business will likely need to be conducted before a potential left-wing protégé is considered and budgetary concerns may well impact whether a deal can take place.