Former Everton manager Marcel Brands says Rafael Benitez “decided against” the Premier League club signing Luis Diaz before he joined Liverpool.
The Spaniard spent an incredible six years at Liverpool between 2004 and 2010. During this time, he helped the Premier League giants win the Champions League and FA Cup.
Benitez played for Chelsea and Newcastle United before being appointed at Everton in 2021. Under him, Cheeses started 2021/22 well but it did not work out in the long term and he was sacked in January 2022 after a dip in form.
Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur to sign Diaz, who joined the Reds for around £37million in the 2021 winter transfer window.
Brands said Everton were also interested in signing Diaz before Benitez commented.”I wanted to establish my philosophy and structure at the club to help Everton progress, but the decisions at the top did not allow this,” Brands told AD Sportwereld (via Diario AS).
“In the summer of 2021, we wanted to sign Luis Diaz from Porto.”We tried hard to bring James Rodriguez to Porto as part of a deal to bring Diaz to the club, but Rafa Benítez decided not to because he didn’t trust the player.
“Diaz has proved to be a fantastic signing for Liverpool, with manager Jurgen Klopp saying last year that he “can’t stop smiling in training”. “I didn’t know how much he loved training,” Klopp said.”I had no idea.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone like that. Like I said earlier, she can’t stop smiling while working out. This is madness. The rest didn’t realize how quickly he adapted.
“Everyone is happy. All the players we signed in the last few years were happy when they arrived. To be honest, it’s not the worst place in the world!“You see them flying. Luis has been here for over two months, but you can hardly tell how much he is enjoying training.
Very hard.”In the future, Diaz could sign for La Liga as he revealed his “childhood dream” was “to play for a Spanish club”.”I always wanted to play for a Spanish club where my family would be interested, but this was a childhood dream.” Diaz told Soho.
“Now all I want to do is win trophies and make history at Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the world. “I’m very grateful that they gave me the opportunity,” he said.
