Liverpool rarely miss in the transfer market. Oh, there have been a few outliers – namely Naby Keita and, taking everything into account, Darwin Nunez – but FSG have stayed ahead of the curve with their diligent and prudent planning.
Thus, Arne Slot has found the perfect tools to craft a season of great promise, taking Jurgen Klopp’s seat and actually advancing the German’s project. Liverpool are six points clear at the top of the Premier League (with a game in hand) and wait for the outcome of the extra Champions League knockout round after winning the group phase.
It’s quite something, given that Federico Chiesa is Liverpool’s only first-team addition since Ryan Gravenberch completed a midfield rebuild in August 2023. Chiesa hasn’t started a top-flight match and failed a big opportunity in the recent FA Cup exit against Plymouth Argyle.
Liverpool have an enviable collection of attacking superstars, but sources such as Anfield Watch reported last week that Luis Diaz is falling out of favour under Slot, lacking the potency that his technical quality suggests should be in his grasp.
The Colombia international did himself no favours at Home Park.
Luis Diaz's future at Liverpool
With Diaz entering the penultimate year of his Liverpool contract, it feels like he’s driving toward a critical juncture. Diaz will turn 30 in less than two years and sporting director Richard Hughes will surely need to present a package that eclipses his reported £55k-per-week salary.
Whether FSG will be happy to authorise this remains to be seen, especially with the 25-year-old Cody Gakpo assuming the number one spot on the left flank, leaving Diaz to play a dynamic focal role in the middle, threading Liverpool’s attacking play together.
It’s worth noting that Liverpool have surveyed the market for left-sided forwards of late, keen on signing Newcastle United’s Anthony Gordon last summer and registering an interest in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January before his transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Liverpool will rue the day they lost their world-class star
Diaz, who is a long-time name on Barcelona’s transfer shortlist, may leave Liverpool as a Premier League champion, but it’s fair to say that he hasn’t lived up to the level of his predecessor, Sadio Mane. Liverpool must rue losing him back in 2022.
Mane began his career in English football with Southampton, showing the Premier League his many strengths across two campaigns before Klopp signed him for £34m in June 2016, right at the start of his long-term project.
The left-sided forward would of course go on to forge one of Europe’s greatest modern frontlines with Salah and Roberto Firmino, so fast and incisive on the left wing and playing an instrumental role in winning all the silverware, namely lifting the Premier League and Champions League titles.
As with many of Klopp’s best signings, Mane’s arrival was met with a measure of scorn from rivals who felt that Liverpool had overpaid for an average, albeit talented, winger. But the 32-year-old will look back on his career in England with the satisfaction of one who is among the finest players of their generation.
Liverpool haven’t exactly fallen by the wayside since the now Al Nassr player’s departure, but with talk rising of Diaz leaving Liverpool after potentially just three full campaigns, it’s fair to say that he hasn’t hit the level of the man before him.
While the reasoning behind Mane’s sale was justified, especially since Diaz has been so inconsistent in front of goal, it’s hard not to think of the Senegalese forward with anything other than rueful longing.
Of course, that’s not to say that Diaz isn’t a fantastic player in his own right, but rather that he’s just not as potent and powerful as Mane, who had admittedly set a rather high bar.
Apps
269
131
Goals
120
36
Assists
41
16
G/A Rate
0.60
0.41
Trophies
6x
4x
Liverpool still managed to bank a decent sum for Mane’s exit after so many years of illustrious service, Bayern Munich paying £35m to sign the winger, who was about to enter the final year of his Anfield contract.
However, the flying winger scored 23 goals from 51 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool in 2021/22 and might have been a valuable player still across the past few years, especially given that Gakpo is now thriving and could have benefitted as Mane’s initial understudy.
Liverpool paid a total of £49m for Diaz and are no doubt satisfied with their deal, but given that he’s not actually succeeding in putting in more goals and assists this term than Mane, who is still performing admirably, you have to question whether the clinical edge has ever really been at the level that bosses will have expected.
Mane has only scored seven goals for Al Nassr this season but he’s also racked up nine assists, meaning that his 16-contribution season stands above that of Diaz, who has scored 12 goals under Slot’s management but has only provided three assists, his lack of creative support one of the chief reasons behind the frustrations.
Salah has always taken more of the plaudits and that’s probably fair, but there was something free and devastating about Mane under Klopp’s wing, almost indefinable in his electric ability to stamp over his opponents.
Liverpool could have done worse than sign Diaz, sure, but it’s clear that he lacks the same level of brilliance as the 32-year-old, who Klopp described as a “world-class player” and rightly so.
Ultimately, Mane is now in the twilight stage of his professional career and any decision (which obviously won’t happen) to bring him back to Anfield would be met with dismay internally and derision from rivals looking in.
But the plain and hard truth is that Diaz has never managed to capture the Senegal sensation’s same giddy level, and FSG will surely rue the decision to cut Mane loose when they did, a Liverpool icon who still had mileage in the tank.
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