Luis Garcia has given his own take on why Luis Diaz has settled so seamlessly into Liverpool’s forward line.
Garcia was speaking to the Liverpool Echo after playing for ‘LFC Legends’ at Anfield on Saturday. The former Liverpool hero said that Diaz’s football intelligence is what has made the move so straightforward.
“You expect at least two or three months to adapt to the rhythm of the competition, the rhythm of the team and the way the team plays,” said Garcia.
“You need a lot of intensity, but he [Diaz] is a player who knows what it is to play this way,” continued the 43-year-old. “His football intelligence is fantastic and that’s why he has adapted to what Jurgen Klopp wants from him.”
It echoes what Klopp himself has spoken about in regards to his number 23. The Liverpool manager has talked about letting Diaz do what comes naturally during the early part of his career at Anfield.
There will be plenty of time for tweaking parts of his game over the months ahead. But as he’s joined the squad at a crucial and intense period of the season, there’s no need to overload him.
Luckily for Liverpool fans, Diaz is naturally an absolute terror on the pitch and doesn’t need telling twice to attack with pace and head for the goal.
Flying the flag
Liverpool fans were given another glimpse of Diaz’s mercurial talents as he rattled in a belter for Colombia last Thursday.
The goal set his team on the way to a much-needed 3-0 win over Bolivia. That kept their slim hopes of qualifying for next winter’s World Cup still alive.
They’ll need to beat Venezuela on Wednesday morning and hope that Peru slip up against Paraguay. Anything else and Diaz will be watching the tournament from his house on Merseyside.
From a Liverpool point of view, that might not be a bad thing. Of course we want our players to do well for their national sides and play in the biggest tournament’s around.
But Diaz will still be less than a year into his Liverpool career when the tournament in Qatar comes around. The next World Cup comes mid-season and would therefore allow the 25-year-old some additional time to get even more up to speed with what Klopp expects from him.
With one of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah also set to miss out, he’ll be in good company on the training pitch should Colombia fail to make it.
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