Pep Lijnders provides chief details on how Luis Diaz snubbed Tottenham in favor of Liverpool
In the January transfer window, Liverpool outbid Tottenham for the transfer of highly sought-after attacker, Luis Diaz from Porto, and one of Klopp’s assistants was crucial to the deal.
The Colombian has been nothing short of a revelation, since moving to Anfield in a £50 million transfer. In what was a very grueling 63-game season, the 25-year-old rekindled the team’s quest for an unprecedented quadruple.
Initially, the Reds were calm in their efforts to sign the former Porto attacker but the club soon felt that they had no choice but to step in, once Tottenham started taking the deal quite seriously.
Luis Diaz signed for Liverpool in January (Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool had originally targeted him for the summer transfer window but had to take up his services in January itself.
In his new book, the Intensity, Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has now disclosed the crucial role he played in persuading Diaz to join the club while he was away on a skiing holiday.
He continued by detailing how he persuaded Diaz to join the team by promising the player that he would get the opportunity to practice with some of Liverpool’s top players. The Mirror quoted his words, as he said:
“I was on a skiing trip with my wife Danielle when, during dinner, our sporting director called me. You and Jurgen have to speak with Luis Diaz in five minutes. We’ve just agreed with Porto but Tottenham are all-in as well.
“I joined the call and I told him: ‘We want you desperately and have been pushing for the last one-and-a-half months. The good thing is you will train with Virgil, Robbo, and Trent and they will make you so much stronger.”
In the end, Lijnders revealed that sporting director Julian Ward even showed Diaz the club’s trophy case and acted swiftly to seal the transfer before Spurs could even sneak into the deal.
Despite the fact that Liverpool only won two domestic cups, the Columbian attacker had a significant impact on the team and immediately became a key member of what will be a new forward line this season due to Diogo Jota’s hamstring injury and Sadio Mane’s move to Bayern Munich this summer.
The 25-year-old has clearly risen to the challenge thus far. He would be looking forward to improving even more now that he regularly faces defenders like Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip, and Joe Gomez.
The entire transfer would take everyone by surprise but it goes without saying that we are fortunate to have a manager whose reputation alone can persuade players to accept the call from Liverpool.
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But Klopp also has a perfect number two in Pep Lijnders who is very aware of what drives the players into signing for the Reds. Ward is no slouch either and he seems to be the rightful heir to Michael Edward’s throne.
