It’s been seven months since he arrived Luis Fernando Diaz to Liverpool. In quick and concrete conversations, in January 2022 the English team signed the Colombian attacker from Porto, and in just one semester he demonstrated his capabilities and why Jürgen Klopp noticed him.
There is also the memory of how Liverpool snatched the signing from Tottenham Hotspurwhich was emerging as the team that would hire the Colombian, in an intense management in which leaders and coach of the ‘reds’.
Indeed, the best kept secret was revealed. Pep Lijnders, who works in the management of Liverpool, He confessed how they finished convincing Luis Díaz to decide to play with the traditional club. Everything was known in the book ‘Intensity: Inside Liverpool FC – Our Identity’.
In the transfer window that opened in January, Tottenham hastened the pace to hire Diaz. Thus, they alerted everyone in Liverpool not to miss the signing of the Colombian.
Even Lijnders was on winter vacation and had to join an emergency video call to chat with Luis Díaz, and also with Klopp.
In an excerpt from the book, Lijnders detailed the timing of the call, which was vital in disbursing more than $60 million to Porto FC.
“I was on a ski trip with my wife Danielle when our athletic director (Julian Ward) called me over dinner. You and Jürgen have to talk to Luis Díaz in five minutes. We have just agreed with Porto, but Tottenham is also willing”, said the deputy manager.
“I joined the call and Jürgen was explaining to Luis how he would fit into our style and that we would help him. He said in reference to me joining (the call) ‘But you will hear this guy much more often!’, to which I immediately said ”but I will explain things to you more calmly than Sergio (Conceição, the coach of the Porto)!’, to which Luis laughed”.
“I told: ‘We want you desperately and we have been pushing for the last month and a half with our owners and our sporting director, but you know that these types of transfers are not easy to achieve. The good thing is that you will train with Virgil, Robbo and Trent and they will make you much stronger. Our idea is to create and annotate; you will have to destroy these guys every day in training, which will make you better, “continued the description of the moment.
“His agent translated Jürgen’s message and Julian Ward said ‘these two will make you a better player’. I told him that there weren’t many clubs with more history and culture than Porto, but Liverpool was one of them and he would feel this. Julian then walked with his phone to the trophy case. of the club and ended with a ‘we want to add titles to this and that’s why we want you’.
Luis Díaz was moved and then made a decision: “If the boy wasn’t convinced, he would be now. What started as a bad move, ended with an incredible signing. We signed the one we wanted.”
