Liverpool and Chelsea are keeping tabs on Brentford full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf despite his slow start to life with the Bees.
The 21-year-old joined Brentford in a €40.8m deal nit eh summer from West Ham, leaving the Hammers after they were relegated from the Premier League.
He had only been at the London Stadium for a year following a €22m move from Slavia Prague in 2025. He went on to make 36 appearances in all competitions for the Hammers, registering five assists.
That was enough to convince Brentford to sign him in the summer. He’s yet to really establish himself with Keith Andrews side, managing just eight appearances totalling 320 minutes to date. He’s managed just one start in the Premier League.
Chelsea and Liverpool keen
But it seems that, despite the lack of minutes, interest in him is growing. 442.com report that Chelsea and Liverpool are ‘keeping tabs’ on the Senegal international.
They have already made contact with the youngster’s representatives. And the belief is that formal offers could follow soon after.
There is no concern about his lack of minutes for Brentford. In fact, there is a confidence that he will establish himself before too long.
Both clubs have taken note of his ‘surging runs down the left flank’, his explosive burst of pace and his significant attacking potential. And it seems that potential is overruling his lack of minutes for Brentford to date.
A transfer fee in the region of €50-60m is already being discussed. Those are interesting numbers as Transfermarkt currently rank him at around €35m.
The question is whether Liverpool or Chelsea want to pay such a fee. Both have spent big in recent seasons on left backs in Milos Kerkez and Pep Chavarria.
It would be interesting for them to spend big again so soon, and hand Brentford an immediate profit on their summer signing.
Growing interest
Liverpool’s and Chelsea’s interest in El Hadji Malick Diouf is a longstanding one, though. Indeed, it goes back to before he was in the Premier League.
Sport Witness reported back in January 2025 that Liverpool had been in contact with the defender’s agents over the move. This was before they signed Kerkez. He was seen as the long-term replacement for Andy Robertson.
Later that month, Slavia Prague’s chairman was openly admitting he would sell to Liverpool. He even brought Chelsea into the picture at that point as well.
Now they’re both in the picture again. And a report from Senegal this week insisted that both were making moves as well. So, there is clearly something going on around the Brentford full-back.
