Premier League champions have rejected advances for the winger so far, but has he told the club he wants to leave?
On Tuesday Liverpool swiftly turned down a formal €67.5m offer from Bayern Munich for winger Luis Diaz, reaffirming the position they have held all summer that the Colombia international is not for sale.
Barcelona have also knocked and received the same answer. In fact, the La Liga champions might as well have been answered by just a hand that emerged from the door and impatiently waved them away.
Bayern’s bid this week was their first official move for the 28-year-old but he has been a top attacking target for the Bundesliga side so far in the summer.
The Athletic reports that Diaz is open to a move and has even told Liverpool that he wants to leave. But earlier in the summer, while on international duty for Colombia he said he would “be happy and content to stay” at Liverpool as he still has two years left on his contract – although he admitted his representatives were “speaking to other clubs”.
Diaz described the situation as “normal”, saying “the market is open and we’re trying to sort out what’s best for us”.
Again, sometime after that he also told Colombian outlet WinSports that his representatives were speaking with the Liverpool board about a contract extension.
Diaz said: “We’re talking with the board. We’re comfortable with where I am, and we’ll have to see.”
So far, there has been no sign of an extension but Liverpool’s stance is that they expect him to stay at the very least until 2027. The club are under no pressure to offer him an extended contract. They want to keep Diaz regardless of whether he agrees a new deal or not, even if that means leaving as a free agent in two years’ time.
The tricky part about the situation is that Liverpool are interested in signing a No 9, given that Nunez’s future is in doubt. They have already made enquiries about the possibility of signing Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta. The club would rather not deal with the added worry of signing a left winger as well this summer to cover the absence of Diaz, especially after the demise of forward Diogo Jota also left a space in the forward line.
Unless Liverpool receive an offer too tempting to reject, and in time to sign a replacement, Diaz will most likely stay.
