Arsenal and Liverpool are set for busy summers on the transfer front in wake of some underwhelming results this season.
The Gunners and the Reds are still very much in the Premier League title race, although they’ve both conceded the advantage to Manchester City.
However, both Arsenal and Liverpool saw their European adventures come to an end in the past few days.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds won 1-0 at Atalanta, but it wasn’t enough to overturn their 3-0 loss to the Italians at Anfield.
As two of the biggest clubs in the world, Arsenal and Liverpool could well find themselves competing for the same high-calibre players in the summer transfer window.
Indeed, a player deemed ‘one of the most exciting young talents in Europe’ has been linked with both the Gunners and the Reds.
Arsenal and Liverpool linked with Ousmane Diomande
The player in question is Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande, who has been lighting up the Portuguese Primeira Liga this season.
Just a few days ago, Portuguese news outlet Record stated that the 20-year-old would like to join the Gunners this summer.
O Jogo add that Arsenal have been following the Ivorian since his days at FC Midtjylland, and are aware of the defender’s €80million (£68million) release clause.
Liverpool have also been linked with Diomande, and pretty soon they could have a trump card that could turn his head away from the Emirates Stadium.
If the Reds bring Sporting head coach Ruben Amorim to Anfield, this could go a long way to convincing Diomande to go there instead.
Indeed, according to Jornal de Noticias, Amorim would like Diomande and Goncalo Inacio to swap Lisbon for Liverpool this summer if he joins the Reds.
Should Liverpool succeed in bringing Amorim to Anfield, they’ll certainly fancy their chances of convincing Diomande to pick them instead of Arsenal.
What could Ousmane Diomande bring to Arsenal or Liverpool this summer?
Despite his young age, Diomande has already made 51 competitive appearances for Sporting and has won four caps for Ivory Coast.
He is incredibly talented and boasts work-rate, great physicality – he is 6ft 3in – and a very high ceiling.
Scouted’s Scouted50 features the reported Gunners and Reds target at number five.
They wrote of Diomande: “He ticks the boxes of the extreme demands elite teams now place on their centre-backs.
“He’s big and fast, a dominant defender in duels and solid in the air, calm and confident in possession, as well as remarkably two-footed on the ball.
“The Ivorian will be Sporting’s next big sale to the elite of the elite.”
Meanwhile, Football Talent Scout‘s Jacek Kulig called Diomande “one of the most exciting young talents in Europe” last year.
His main strengths are his physicality, his vision and his speed, added the scouting report.
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