Liverpool Assistant Coach Pep Lijnders has revealed the tactics used by his club in order to secure the signing of Luis Diaz from Porto back in January this year.
The versatile winger was on his way to Tottenham Hotspur who were long linked with a move for him. However, Diaz landed in Merseyside to sign with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Ljinders, who has authored a book on his time at the club named Intensity: Inside Liverpool FC- Our Identity, has described the interesting story of how a ‘phone call’ with the winger changed the dynamics.
Liverpool eventually signed Diaz for £42 million, toppling the almost set plan of Tottenham to land the Colombian.
Lijnders talks about how he and Klopp changed Luis Diaz’s mind
Luis Diaz proved to be a game-changing addition to the squad in the winter transfer market for Liverpool. The 25-year-old quickly cemented his place on the left-flank, urging Klopp to shift Sadio Mane to the middle as a number-9.
The winger scored 6 goals and assisted 5 in 26 games for the Reds, helping them to a domestic cup double of the FA Cup and the League Cup.
The Liverpool ECHO have released the part from Lijnders’ book ahead of its official launch where the three- Klopp, Diaz and Lijnders himself gathered over a phone call to persuade the winger to sign at Anfield.
Lijnders writes, “I was on a skiing trip with my wife Danielle when, during dinner, our sporting director called me. ‘You and Jurgen have to speak with Luis Diaz in five minutes. We’ve just agreed with Porto but Tottenham are all-in as well’.”
This followed the phone call between them and Diaz, where Lijnders offered him a chance to win titles and be with the best at Liverpool, a transcript of which reads-
“I told him: ‘We want you desperately and have been pushing for the last one-and-a-half months with our owners and our sporting director, but you know that these kinds of transfers are not easy to accomplish. The good thing is you will train with Virgil, Robbo and Trent and they will make you so much stronger. Our idea is to create and score; you will have to tear these guys apart each day in training, which will make you better’.”
Lijnders’ promise to Diaz was fulfilled since the former Porto man won 2 titles within a span of six months at Liverpool.
Further on, Diaz is expected to play a more crucial role at the club now that Sadio Mane has left for Bayern Munich. The Colombian, in his first full season with the club will be aiming to deliver more than what he did in the second-half of the last season.