‘Oh my God’ – Jürgen Klopp already knows what the future holds for Luis Diaz after returning from Liverpool

‘Oh my God’ – Jürgen Klopp already knows what the future holds for Luis Diaz after returning from Liverpool

Luis Diaz returns to training for the Liverpool squad this week after being sidelined with a knee injury since October

It has been six months since Luis Diaz last played for Liverpool.

The Colombian has been a revelation at Anfield having joined the Reds midway through last season in a £49m deal from FC Porto. He would only need 10 minutes off the bench to claim an assist on his debut against Cardiff City, even if Opta doesn’t recognize him because he wasted no time dismissing Kopites and getting them out of their seats.

A first goal would come in just his second start for the club against Norwich City, less than a month away from Liverpool when he got his hands on his first piece of silverware with a League Cup final victory over Chelsea. at Wembley. Caoimhin Kelleher would have made headlines with a shootout win, but the striker was the star of his side. The Reds were nine points behind runaway leaders Man City at the time of Diaz’s arrival, having already slowly started to regain a 14-point deficit despite Jurgen Klopp’s men holding two games in their hands just weeks before.

By the end of the season, he had six goals and five assists in 26 appearances, including key goals in the Champions League against Benfica and Villarreal and in the Premier League against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The inspiration for Liverpool’s unprecedented quadruple attack, he helped lift the FA Cup in May only to miss the Premier League title by a single point on the final day of the season before losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League final. the European Cup in Paris.

Where Sadio Mane was once untouchable on the Reds’ left flank, Diaz made the job his own when the Senegalese moved to the center in the final months of his Liverpool career.

That form would continue for the Colombian this season even as the Reds struggled for consistency. Liverpool’s star player in the opening months of the season, he made impressive solo appearances against Crystal Palace and Napoli and a brace against AFC Bournemouth, with his record four goals and three assists in 12 standing appearances before to retire early following a knee injury against Arsenal in October.

Originally scheduled to return to action in December, he would return to training at the Reds’ mid-season winter camp in Dubai, only to suffer a setback after a few sessions. It was then decided that he would have to undergo surgery.

“I can tell you that the two training sessions he had with us in Dubai at training camp were like, ‘Oh my god, how good is that?'” Klopp recalled the month last. “Then he got hurt again.”

But if Klopp’s seven-word reaction to his previous comeback attempt is anything, maybe Diaz can be brought back to life. His manager definitely backed him to at least impress before the end of the season.

“It’s a different situation than [when he arrived] last year. He came here [and] [had] played almost every game for Porto,” Klopp said last month of Diaz’s comeback. “Now he’s out for the second time through injury.

“Obviously when he comes back he’ll be very good and make a big impression. It’s obvious, [but] how soon I don’t know. We have to see, this is the big challenge in these moments: there is no time to be patient, but you have to be patient.

“So we will see but I am positive about him, he has a good chance to really make an impact in maybe 10, 11 or 12 games. Let’s see how long it takes exactly.

“I think maybe next week there will be a warm-up with the team and stuff like that and then, maybe a week later, team training will start. That would be cool.

“You always have to wait. Like I said, I saw it today – a very intense session with a lot of changes of direction and things like that. If there’s no reaction to that and he can take the next step, so I don’t think he’s too far off.”

Diaz is now ready to return to team training and is set to take the next step towards a competitive return. And with Liverpool needing another shot in the arm before the big last 12 games of the season as they delivered last year to qualify for next season’s Champions League, it’s not not a moment too soon.