FSG are going to invest in Liverpool‘s first-team squad this summer. It might feel like the Anfield side are allergic to transfer activity, but having held off from big acquisitions over the past three windows, the time for strengthening is nearly upon us.
What is the priority? Where should sporting director Richard Hughes centre his focus? Liverpool are approaching a critical juncture, not least because arguably the biggest three names at the club are just a few months away from their contracts expiring.
However, Liverpool are a prudent club and will have spent countless hours mapping out strategies going forward. While the future of right-sided forward Mohamed Salah remains a point of great contention for fans, who desperately want him to stay, there are one or two forwards whose sales would be met with less dismay and more acceptance.
Perhaps, in Luis Diaz‘s case, such an eventuality would even be a warm thing.
Why Liverpool should cash in on Luis Diaz
Make no mistake: Diaz is one of the best wingers in all of the Premier League Europe. The Colombia international joined from Porto in January 2022, all tricks and athletics and energy. He cost an initial £37m and was billed as Sadio Mane’s successor.
He has succeeded Mane, winning the FA Cup and two Carabao Cups; and, whisper it quietly, he’s edging toward matching the Senegalese’s Premier League title tally.
But Diaz is also approaching a crossroads of his own, for he will be playing out the penultimate year of his Liverpool contract next year. By the time Diaz’s current deal expires, he will have turned 30.
There’s also the matter of his potency, averaging a goal contribution every 0.39 matches for Liverpool as opposed to the devastating Mane’s 0.60 per game.
With Cody Gakpo, 25, so high and mighty on the left wing, you feel that Diaz has been demoted to a second-fiddle sort of role, only playing with such regularity this term because of his makeshift centre-forward stint, largely facilitated by Darwin Nunez‘s unreliability and Diogo Jota‘s inconsistency on the fitness front.
|
Luis Diaz – Liverpool Stats by Position (24/25) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Apps |
Goals |
Assists |
|
|
Left winger |
21 |
5 |
3 |
|
Centre-forward |
11 |
6 |
0 |
|
Right winger |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Stats via Transfermarkt |
|||
It’s possible that Diaz will be sold this year. Barcelona and Saudi-based outfits have expressed an interest, with Liverpool fielding bids worth £67m.
He’d need replacing externally, to be sure, but Liverpool might find that they actually have a homegrown successor in their midst.
Liverpool may already have their next Luis Diaz
Gakpo has scored 16 goals already this season, matching his haul from last year having played about 1,000 fewer minutes. For sure, the Netherlands star has replaced Diaz as Liverpool’s star man on the left flank.
Diaz is still playing regularly though, but his blank against Everton last weekend now means that he has gone six top-flight fixtures without a goal contribution, starting as the ‘striker’ each game. In fact, the 28-year-old has only scored in seven of his 34 matches in all competitions, with 12 goals in total.
The South American’s football isn’t exclusively defined by his numbers, but he’s hardly irreplaceable for a sum such as £67m, especially when Liverpool have a prospect as exciting as Rio Ngumoha pushing against the first-team fencing.
Ngumoha, 17, has made waves within Liverpool’s academy this year, having been poached from Chelsea’s Cobham last summer in what has been regarded as a detrimental blow by senior Chelsea figures.
He’s the real deal. It’s a situation that has even been likened to the Blues’ former loss of Jamal Musiala, who joined Bayern Munich aged 16 and hasn’t looked back.
Ngumoha saw the success of ‘Klopp’s Kids’ last year and decided that Liverpool’s foundational fold would be the perfect hothouse for him to foster his ability and fight for a place in the first team.
Liverpool’s starlet is principally a left-sided forward but, as is commonplace at youth level, he’s played across a variety of roles. However, the right footer’s pace and natural power denote a place on the left wing.
Reporter Lewis Bower went as far as to say that his quality at such a young age is peerless at Kirkby academy: “I’ve probably never seen anything like it before. In terms of his ceiling, it’s frightening.”
All told, he’s rather good, with his FA Cup showing against Accrington Stanley this season showcasing the raw qualities that bespeak a future at the summit of the European game.
|
Rio Ngumoha – Stats vs Acc. Stanley |
|
|---|---|
|
Match Stats |
# |
|
Minutes played |
72 |
|
Goals |
0 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Shots (on target) |
2 (0) |
|
Touches |
30 |
|
Accurate passes |
16/18 (89%) |
|
Dribbles (completed) |
7 (3) |
|
Ground duels (won) |
9 (3) |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
|
He was tenacious, with a bite and ball-carrying drive that certainly presents similarities to Diaz. With several years of hard graft ahead, Ngumoha could find himself occupying a nailed-down role in Slot’s squad, perhaps taking the long-term seat that will have been vacated by Liverpool’s Colombia international.
The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle even handed Ngumoha a 7/10 match score on his professional debut, causing problems for the League Two side throughout and looking at home among his senior peers. The teenager’s propensity for good timing was noted, releasing balls at the right moment and knowing when to take on his man.
The caveat to all this is that should Diaz be sold this summer, it would be remiss to throw Ngumoha into the deep end before he has developed his football to the right level.
However, given that Slot has already handed the prodigy an opportunity, it’s fair to say that he can expect further chances over the coming months and years, with a goal toward taking the baton as Liverpool’s new talisman.
Related
Sold for 1570% profit: Klopp hit the jackpot with Liverpool’s superstar
This former Liverpool player made it all happen for Jurgen Klopp’s team.
