Sunday was a timely reminder of just how effective Luis Diaz can be for Liverpool.
After bursting onto the scene at Anfield two years ago, Diaz has had a mixed last couple of seasons for the Reds. Last year – his first full campaign with the club – was ruined by injury, meanwhile he’s struggled to fully get going in 2023/24.
But against Manchester City last weekend the Colombian shone. Okay, it wasn’t a perfect performance and Diaz should have won the game for Liverpool. But it was nice to see him going at, and beating, Kyle Walker. We haven’t seen that nearly enough this year.
According to reports out of Colombia, Reds fans may not see it for too much longer, either. El Heraldo claim that Diaz’s agent held a meeting with Barcelona president Joan Laporta recently. Barca reportedly want him at the Camp Nou.
Today, journalist Fabrizio Romano has offered a retort to those stories. Taking to his Daily Briefing column, Romano reports that there’s currently nothing for Liverpool fans to worry about.
“I want to reassure fans that I’m not hearing anything about Luis Diaz and Barcelona, despite some stories about his agent meeting with Barca,” says the transfer expert. “Diaz’s full focus is on Liverpool and also I don’t think it’s possible for Barcelona to go and pay the kind of crazy fee that would be required for Diaz.”
Diaz happy at Liverpool
Although he’s had a difficult kind of season, this is still really good news for Liverpool supporters.
Having spent so much time on the side lines last year, there’s little question that Diaz hasn’t been the same player since returning. But in truth, that’s normal after such a long time out
The No.7 has still been much more good than bad this campaign and, crucially, has stayed fit and available throughout.
He should certainly have managed more than the 11 goals he has, but Diaz has had to contend with the kidnapping of his father in amongst everything else, too.
He has battled on, never once hidden and continued to give everything for Liverpool in the meantime.
Nevertheless, if Barcelona were able to stump up a ‘crazy’ bid for Diaz, the Reds would have a question to answer. They paid around £50m to sign him 2022 and it would have to be significantly more than that.
With that money, they could fund the signing of a player who would quite probably be more prolific than Lucho.
If Diaz himself is keen to leave for Catalonia, then maybe a sale would make sense for all involved.
Given the state of Barcelona’s finances though, that would seem pretty much impossible. Unless anything changes, the new Liverpool manager should be planning ahead of Diaz on board.
