Liverpool winger Luis Diaz may have added even more fuel to fire about a potential summer transfer to Barcelona.
Despite becoming a fan-favourite after making an immediate impact upon joining from Porto in an initial £37.5 million deal in January 2022, it’s safe to say the 27-year-old now splits opinions amongst the Reds faithful as he’s struggled for consistency across the past two seasons.
And whilst the Colombia international’s contract at Anfield has three more years left to run, unlike other Liverpool stars who have signed new deals after joining, he remains on the same terms he agreed back in 2022 and this has partially led to speculation that he could be set to leave for Spain sooner rather than later.
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In fact, Diaz has been heavily linked with Barcelona and Colombian journalist Breinner Arteta Canizares, who follows the national team, has claimed a meeting is now scheduled between the 27-year-old’s camp and an as-yet unnamed LaLiga outfit during the Copa America in the United States next week.
“[Luis Diaz]’s entourage will have a meeting this or next week with emissaries from a Spanish club in the United States. The Colombian National Team winger would have everything lined up to leave Liverpool FC and go to La Liga,” a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter, said.
Of course, Barcelona are not named in the report. Having said that given the financial aspect in addition to Real Madrid already signing Kylian Mbappe and Endrick to go alongside Vinicius Junior in the front line, it’s highly unlikely any other Spanish league team are scheduled for the aforementioned meeting.
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Luis Diaz name drops Barcelona legends
During a ‘Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, posted on the Premier League’s YouTube page, with current Liverpool teammates Alexis Mac Allister and Darwin Nunez, Diaz was asked to name his favourite legend as well as favourite player currently and his responses were quite interesting.
“Well my favourite player has always been, since I was a kid, Ronaldinho,” Diaz said. You could say he’s favourite legend.
“Current favourite? [Lionel] Messi. I’ve always liked Messi. I’ve always liked Neymar as well, but I’ll pick Messi.”
Granted, Ronaldinho and Messi are two of the greatest players of all time, so it’s not too much of a shock that Diaz rates both players highly as he perhaps models his game on the pair when taking their dribbling ability into account.
Of course, the South American connection is probably another factor but with Neymar’s name also mentioned and the fact all three players have played for Barcelona (and Paris Saint-Germain) is rather interesting as he was clearly watching the club a lot whilst growing up.
So perhaps Diaz wants to emulate his legend and current favourite player by pulling on the famous Barcelona shirt one day? Who knows what will happen in the summer transfer window but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.
