Liverpool transfer news: Andoni Iraola must "break bank" for £120.9m Mo Salah replacement - it's not Yan Diomande

Liverpool should be 'breaking the bank' to sign Paris Saint-Germain wing wizard Khvicha Kvaratskhelia rather than targeting Yan Diomande as Mohamed Salah's successor, Danny Murphy has exclusively told Sports Mole.

The Reds are firmly in planning mode for the summer transfer window after confirming the appointment of new head coach Andoni Iraola, who has arrived at a time when Salah is packing his Merseyside bags.

As the latter's backup Federico Chiesa has struggled to make his mark in England, Liverpool are expected to target a big-money replacement for Salah, and RB Leipzig's Diomande appears to have emerged as the front-runner.

Diomande will reportedly join Liverpool or one Premier League rival during the summer transfer window, although the 2024-25 champions would have to fork out at least £100m to bring him to Anfield.

If Liverpool are to cough up such an amount for a Salah successor, ex-Red Murphy believes that their money would be better spent on Kvaratskhelia, who would be a less risky signing than his Ivorian counterpart.

Danny Murphy: 'Liverpool should break bank for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia'

Asked if Diomande was the perfect fit for Liverpool, Murphy responded: "He could potentially be a very good successor to Mohamed Salah.

"He’s very dynamic, can go both ways, can score goals and very fit. He looks a terrific talent from what I’ve seen of him, so he could potentially be a good replacement.

"I wouldn’t say he’s the perfect replacement though, because you ideally want someone who’s played at the top level before and wouldn’t be fazed by big games, so they can come in and hit the ground running.

"If I was in charge of Liverpool, I would be trying to break the bank for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; he can play on the right as comfortably as he can on the left and he’s probably the best winger in the world at the moment.

"When a player has been at PSG for a while and won the Champions League twice, maybe the challenge of playing in the Premier League could be exciting. It’s probably unlikely, but if he was to walk through the door, there’d be zero risks attached to him, whereas young players like Diomande could take time."

Comparing Yan Diomande and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia amid Liverpool transfer links

When comparing Diomande and Kvaratskhelia purely from a league sense last season, the baseline statistics favour the former, who registered 20 Bundesliga goal involvements compared to the latter's 12 direct Ligue 1 contributions.

However, Kvaratskhelia saved his best for the European stage, winning the Champions League Player of the Season award courtesy of claiming 10 goals and seven assists en route to a second consecutive title.

The former Napoli man also played 994 fewer minutes in Ligue 1 than Diomande did in the Bundesliga, meaning that his 12 goals and assists convert to one every 123.5 minutes, marginally better than Diomande's ratio of one every 123.8 minutes.

Kvaratskhelia also registered a superior passing accuracy (87.9% to Diomande's 84%) and duel success rate (52.8% to Diomande's 50.6%), although the former's take-on success rate of 59.9% trumped Kvaratskhelia's 57.9%.

As Murphy alluded to, though, PSG are well within their rights to demand an extortionate fee for Kvaratskhelia - valued at £120.9m by Transfermarkt - so Diomande is by far the most realistic signing for Reds supporters.

Danny Murphy was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of NetBet Online Betting.