Fabrizio Romano has explained how Liverpool beat Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United to the signing of Luis Diaz in January.
The Colombia international has been a big hit at Anfield, which is not surprising given his immense potential at his previous club Porto.
Liverpool faced a great deal of competition for Diaz, it would seem, with Barcelona president Joan Laporta speaking publicly about trying to bring the player to the Nou Camp.
Explaining why this didn’t go through, Romano has written in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside’s Substack about how Barca didn’t seem prepared to pay Porto’s asking price for Diaz, while Jurgen Klopp also had a key role in eventually luring the 25-year-old to Merseyside.
“My understanding is that Barcelona had conversations with the player’s agents but it never got to an advanced stage between the clubs as Porto wanted a €60m package for him,” Romano said.
“There was also interest from others – Tottenham and West Ham were also pushing – but in the end, Klopp and Liverpool’s plans made the difference.”
Spurs and West Ham must regret missing out on this top talent, who could surely have transformed their fortunes.
Liverpool also ended up signing Darwin Nunez in the summer in what has been a major rebuilding of their attack, with Sadio Mane surprisingly leaving the club at the end of last season to join Bayern Munich.
