Liverpool are in talks to sign new Diaz for a big fee

The World Cup is over, and now it will be one month until the Premier League returns, and Liverpool want to roar back to life as title contenders.

Andoni Iraola is enjoying his new job as Liverpool’s head coach, tasked with restoring the ‘rock and roll’ attitude at Anfield after a disappointing and disappointing decline under the wing of Arne Slott.

Liverpool haven’t dominated the transfer market like they did last year, but FSG are looking to strengthen further, with Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz already strengthening the squad.

Munoz is a powerful and flashy winger, and the hope, perhaps, is that he will bring something back to Luis Diaz’s Liverpool line which went awry in his absence last year.

Why Liverpool sold Luis Diaz

Hindsight can be a terrible thing, a lens through which you must stare at your mistakes. For Liverpool, the decision to sell Diaz and the subsequent decision not to replace him as a winger caused major problems for Slot and the partnership.

Diaz, 29, joined Liverpool from Porto in a deal worth up to £49m in January 2022, and scored 41 goals and provided 23 assists in 148 games. He never reached the same heights as Sadio Mane before him, but the Colombian was undoubtedly key to the title winning machine.

Diaz has emerged as a new type of striker at Bayern. His speed and power and unwavering stamina lend themselves to superstardom in the Bundesliga. He is given more time to mix things up with the German giants, who dominate year after year.

But he remains sensational, a man who scored 25 goals in 2024/25 when Liverpool lifted the Premier League with a slot. In 51 games with Bayern, however, he put up 26 goals and 23 assists.

Revisionism is an easy lens through which Diaz’s sales can be viewed. But Diaz is pushing 30, with Bayern offering £65.5m to get him off Liverpool’s hands before the year before his contract expires.

The fatal flaw in Slot and FSG’s master plan, however, was to put too much time, energy and money into signing Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak without dealing with the loss of balance and fluency that Diaz provides down the left. Cody Gakpo struggled in the import role.

Now, Iraola needs to set things right, and he can do so by reducing the weight of expectations on young Munoz by signing a world sensation to replace Diaz.

How Liverpool can finally replace Diaz

Munoz, a World Cup champion with Spain, has just turned 23 years old, and is relatively inexperienced. He can play across the front line, but expecting him to hit Diaz and Mane-esque heights from the get-go would be somewhat foolish.

And with that in mind, it’s important that FSG continue to knock down doors in their pursuit of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain, TEAMtalk confirms that talks for the French striker are ongoing, but that Manchester United are stepping up their interest.

The 23-year-old is fast emerging as one of the best players in the world, with PSG expected to demand £128m for his signature this summer. However, whether they stick to that extreme number is another question.

About Liverpool, we know a few things. We know FSG consider the Frenchman a top target, and we know they won’t pay more than the British record £125m that brought Isak to Anfield last summer. We also know that personal goals will not be a problem, with Barcola looking for a prominent role in the elite outfit.

You’re probably already there. Barcola is primarily a left-sided striker, but is comfortable on the right, where he leans more on the creative side of his game, right-footed as he is. This is a rising “star”, according to Liverpool writer Dave Hendrick, someone who can fill the Salah-shaped hole next year and beyond.

He is still improving, but he could be just the Diaz upgrade that Liverpool need. Their previous experience was not at his best in Colombia this summer, although he played a key role in the South American side.

Barcola still has a lot to work on, but he is naturally strong, clinical in the way Liverpool will need to help deal with the departure of Mohamed Salah, whose contract expired earlier this month.

In the past two years with PSG, the Les Bleus man has scored 34 goals and provided 28 assists, key to back-to-back Champions League wins and a wealth of domestic silverware besides.

Diaz may have ridden the big wave in Germany, but we know he didn’t stick to those mountains for Liverpool. Barcola, however, gets better and better; six years younger Diaz, he could just be a world-class player, who excels Diaz at Anfield and actually stands out as a talisman for Iraola’s outfit.