“We were very interested”- Barcelona president reveals how Liverpool pipped them to signing 25-year-old star

Barcelona president reveals how Liverpool pipped them to Luis Diaz

Speaking in an interview as quoted by Liverpool Echo, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed how Liverpool pipped them to the signing of Columbian superstar Luis Diaz in January last season.

Diaz was a very smart signing by Liverpool and the former Porto man has already made such a lasting impression in such a short time in a Reds shirt. However, there is a chance that he could have been playing his football in Spain right now.

The 25-year-old quickly established himself as a first-choice starter in Jurgen Klopp’s team and his immediate impact was one of the main reasons Liverpool really had a charge in the second half of the season.

Diaz’s form meant that Klopp had to start playing Sadio Mane through the middle to accommodate both these players together. Ever since the Senegal superstar left, Diaz has made that position his own.

In 12 games

for Liverpool this season, Diaz has scored four goals and provided three assists across all competitions. However, he got injured at the worst possible time for the Reds and has been missing ever since.

Speaking about the player, Laporta admitted Barcelona were very keen on signing him but Liverpool had already advanced.

”Liverpool got ahead of us in the signing of Luis Díaz. We were very interested in him. We even got to talk with his agent, but they already had advanced. We were also in an economic restructuring”

Columbia are not in the World Cup and he will not miss the event but it would have been an even bigger blow had his country qualified for Qatar and Diaz missed it through injury.

Diaz will now be working to get fit and helping Liverpool in the second half of the season. The talented 25-year-old is the present and the future of the Reds and he will be hoping to continue on a similar note.

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It doesn’t come as a surprise that Barcelona wanted a player of his quality in their team. They did sign Raphinha and kept a hold of Ousmane Dembele, which hopefully means they leave us alone for a few years before they even think about taking the former Porto winger off our hands.