“Luis is a player who finds it easy to win over because of the way he is, because of his humility, his work, his dedication, he is a very disciplined player, thank God. There would be no problem if Luis came to Barcelona because it is a top team and one of the best in the world.”
For Liverpool fans, there’s nothing especially concerning about these comments in and of themselves. As Luis Manuel Díaz says, it’s all quiet on the transfer front for now, whether in terms of club-to-club or club-to-player talks, and besides, Liverpool has all the cards with the player’s contract running until 2027. It won’t have any intention of selling, and there’s no firm indication that Díaz wants to leave, even if he does ‘support’ Barcelona. The remarks do, however, point to a broader issue, not just concerning Díaz, but all of Liverpool’s forwards not named Mohamed Salah, who’s probably the second name on any given team sheet after goalkeeper Alisson.
Jürgen Klopp is blessed with arguably the best attacking quintet of any manager in world football (Díaz, Darwin Núñez, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota alongside Salah), enabling him to rotate according to fatigue levels and the characteristics of each opponent with next-to-no drop-off — one top-class player is simply replaced by another. He also, of course, has the option to make enviable personnel changes within games if plan A isn’t working, unleashing fearsome attackers on weary defenses.
This is a formidable weapon for the German, but it does bring challenges too, because if he wants to keep it intact, he’ll have to make sure all of those players are happy. Each of them knows they’re good enough to start virtually every game for a Champions League-level outfit in a top European league, and each of them will be at the very least intrigued by some big-name clubs on the continent, be it Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or another giant. What’s more, all of those clubs will be ready to pounce if they get even the slightest whiff of discontent from a Liverpool forward who would represent an upgrade on their existing options.
“The truth is that I know very little about Barcelona at the moment,” the father of Liverpool forward Luis Díaz told Win Sports last week, as translated by Goal. “It is true that Luis is a loyal Barcelona fan and it would be his dream to go there. So far I would like to thank Porto and Liverpool for the way they welcomed him and received him.
