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Liverpool’s move in the backroom market earlier this came at the perfect time for the Reds – and at the worst possible moment for Paris Saint-Germain according to reports from France.
While the focus has been on the Champions League clash between the two clubs, Liverpool quietly took advantage of a turbulent spell inside PSG’s academy to lure highly rated coach Bafode Diakhaby to Kirkby in February.
Diakhaby, 36, spent close to a decade working in PSG’s youth set-up, most recently as head of pre-formation, overseeing the crucial U13–U16 age groups that have produced some of the French club’s brightest modern talents.
He was regarded in Paris as a key architect of their academy identity, helping to shape players such as Warren Zaïre-Emery and other top prospects before they moved into the professional ranks.
But according to L’Equipe in France, the 2024-25 season proved exhausting, with internal tensions and questions over the direction of the youth structure leading Diakhaby to consider his future.
That uncertainty opened a window which Liverpool were quick to step through. Arne Slot’s side were already reshaping their staff after parting ways with set-piece coach Aaron Briggs, and the club’s recruitment team identified Diakhaby as an opportunity too good to ignore.
Offering a clear role as Youth Development Phase coach at the AXA Training Centre – with responsibility for mirroring first-team standards in the 13–16 age bracket – Liverpool provided both a fresh start and a defined project at an elite Premier League club.
In Paris, the reaction has reportedly been far from relaxed.
L’Equipe have described the switch as a “hidden transfer” and a symbolic blow, with PSG forced into an emergency rethink of their academy structure and even reviewing how such a valued coach was allowed to leave:
“This departure, in the shadows, has caused a lot of talk at Paris-Saint-Germain. In an internal climate, sometimes considered difficult to live with by some employees, it marked what some consider to be a “turning point” in the way the training center is managed,” they report.
“Especially in a turbulent period, with the withdrawal of Pierre Reynaud, a long-time recruiter for the training center, whose prerogatives have been restricted to make way for a project where the management must now validate the choices made.”
For Liverpool, however, Diakhaby’s arrival looks like a strategic win: no transfer fee, minimal headlines, but a coach whose influence on the next generation could prove every bit as important as a big-name signing.
