Liverpool Eye Ousmane Diomande Amid Nottingham Forest's Negotiation Issues

Liverpool are watching Nottingham Forest’s pursuit of Ousmane Diomande with growing interest – and the door might just have swung open.

What looked like a done deal for Forest has turned messy. At the end of July, BBC Sport reported that the Midlands club were “close to completing” an agreement with Sporting Lisbon for the highly rated centre-back, a player long linked with some of Europe’s biggest sides. For Forest, it had all the makings of a statement signing.

The story then twisted. On Wednesday, Portuguese outlet A Bola suggested real progress had finally been made, describing a deal for Diomande as “practically finalised”. The fee and structure were outlined clearly: Sporting want a fixed €40m, with bonuses potentially taking the package to €45m, plus a percentage of any future capital gain. According to the same report, those headline numbers were not the problem. Both clubs had shaken hands on that.

The sticking point lies in how and when the money arrives.

A Bola later detailed “disagreements over the payment terms from the English club to the Alvalade club” as the reason negotiations had stalled. Another report on Thursday went further, claiming the deal had collapsed altogether. By Friday, even A Bola’s own update acknowledged that talks had hit serious trouble, with the outcome “feared” but not yet beyond saving. The fee is there. The schedule is not.

Into that uncertainty steps Liverpool.

The Premier League runners-up have had a relatively quiet window in terms of first‑team arrivals. Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz have come through the door, but the bulk of the noise around Anfield has centred on attacking targets, notably PSG pair Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye. The recruitment focus has been tilted towards the front line.

Yet the squad tells a different story. Liverpool are light at centre-back due to injuries and lack convincing depth across the back line. For a club chasing major honours on multiple fronts, that is a risk. A calculated one, perhaps, but a risk all the same.

That is where Diomande re-enters the frame.

Sebastien Vidal, reporting on X, flagged Liverpool’s potential move into the race: “Liverpool could benefit from the failure of negotiations between Nottingham Forest and Sporting for Ousmane Diomande. The 22-year-old Ivorian defender, valued at around €40M, remains available and has long been on the Reds’ radar, as they look to bolster their central defense.”

The logic is obvious. A 22-year-old Ivory Coast international, already hardened by life at Sporting, available at a price Liverpool know sits within the current market for top defensive talent. A player Forest have pushed so hard to secure that their own ambitions underline his stature.

For Forest, the situation is delicate. They identified Diomande as a leading target early in the window and have spent weeks inching towards an agreement. To lose him now, over the fine print of a payment schedule, would sting badly. It would also hand a direct rival a defender they believed could transform their own back line.

For Liverpool, the calculation is different but just as sharp. Do they continue to pour energy into reshaping the attack, or seize on the chaos around Diomande and address a defensive gap that could define their season?

The numbers are on the table. The player is available. The negotiations between Forest and Sporting are wobbling.

If Liverpool choose to move, this is exactly the kind of moment when a big club changes the entire script of someone else’s transfer window.