Yan Diomande's Future After Ivory Coast's Victory
Emerse Fae couldn’t quite hide the smile. Ivory Coast had just beaten Ecuador, Yan Diomande had run the game from the wing, and the questions were no longer about the result – they were about his future.
“In France they told me he was about to sign with PSG. Here, they tell me he’s about to sign with Liverpool,” Fae said, half-amused, half-resigned to the storm gathering around his young star.
For now, the coach insists, there is only one priority: the World Cup. The transfer circus can wait. But Diomande is making that increasingly difficult. After a standout season at RB Leipzig, his name has moved from the data departments to the front pages. Liverpool’s interest has been noted, PSG’s too, and Fae knows exactly why.
“Yan – what can I say? I can’t put it into words,” he admitted. Then he tried anyway. Talented. Young. Improving. A worker. A teammate. A listener. The kind of profile Europe’s elite clubs build projects around, not around-the-edges squads.
“He’s a kid who works hard, has a real team spirit, laughs with everyone, and he listens,” Fae said. “He listens to the technical staff whenever he’s given advice, and tries to do his best, as he’s told.”
The performance against Ecuador only sharpened the sense that this World Cup could double as his audition. Every take-on, every sprint, every decision now feeds into a wider question: where does he land next, and how big will the stage be?
Rashford waits, United rebuilds
While Diomande’s path seems to be opening up, Marcus Rashford’s looks far less clear.
According to The Athletic, the forward remains “unclear” about what comes next. His loan spell at Barcelona has ended without a permanent offer, leaving him in limbo between a club that didn’t commit and a Manchester United side still deciding what they want to be.
Barcelona’s decision not to buy has pushed Rashford back toward Old Trafford, where a £40 million release clause hovers over his contract. It is open to every club except Manchester City and Liverpool – a deliberate ringfence against strengthening their fiercest domestic rivals.
Rashford’s preference, it is suggested, is straightforward enough: if no serious offer arrives from the continent, he would rather stay at United than cross the aisle to another English club. Pride, identity, and a decade of association with the badge still count for something, even in the age of clauses and options.
United, though, are moving on with or without him. The club is preparing to announce the signing of Ederson from Atalanta, part of a broader attempt to reshape a midfield that has drifted from its prime.
The deal for Ederson is agreed between the clubs and sits within a wider shortlist. Elliot Anderson had been tracked, but United have stepped away. West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes remains a live option, with the club sensing value after the Hammers’ relegation. Sandro Tonali has also been earmarked as a possible piece in this new core.
This is not tinkering. It is a structural job. New legs, new profiles, new ideas – and, by extension, new questions for players like Rashford about where exactly they fit in the next version of Manchester United.
Spurs crash the Tonali race
That same Tonali has become one of the most intriguing names of the summer.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Tottenham have now joined the chase, stepping into a race already populated by Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal. For Spurs, the interest is framed as part of an “ambitious new project” – a phrase that usually signals a shift from patchwork fixes to long-term building.
Tottenham want Tonali at the heart of that. A controller, a tempo-setter, a midfielder who can give structure to a side that has too often lurched between identities.
There is, however, a problem: Newcastle. The Magpies missed out on European football last season and may need to sell, but they are not inclined to offer discounts. A price tag close to £100 million has been floated, a figure that instantly changes the tone of any conversation.
Tonali, for now, has time on his side. Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup has left him with an unusually quiet summer. No tournament. No camp. Just rest, reflection, and the knowledge that his name is sitting on the desks of the Premier League’s biggest operators.
From Diomande dazzling for Ivory Coast to Rashford weighing up his next move and Tonali being courted on all sides, the market is already crackling. The games on the pitch might decide trophies, but over the next few weeks, the decisions off it will decide who is ready to chase them.
