Jordan Henderson has claimed that Liverpool teammate Luis Diaz is one of the best players in the world.
Diaz is currently stepping up his recovery from an injury sustained at the start of October. In the meantime, he’s having to watch the World Cup from the side lines, having failed to qualify with Colombia.
And speaking to Colombian outlet Win Sports via the Liverpool Echo, Henderson shared his disappointment at Diaz missing out on Qatar 2022.
“In the World Cup you want the best players in the world, and Luis Diaz is certainly one of them,” the Reds captain claimed. “He has lit up the Premier League since he came, and it was a disappointing moment when he got an injury for us. Of course, you want the best players here.”
Liverpool can expect to have Diaz back fit and firing for the recommencement of the Premier League next month.
Diaz raring to get back in the spotlight
Of course, Diaz isn’t the only notable absence from the Liverpool squad at the World Cup. The players who have actually made their way to the Middle East are very much in a minority.
As a result, you do have to wonder what the mood will be like when the squad do join up again.
Will they be jealous of the handful of their teammates away seeking glory? Will they be determined to put their name in lights again having dropped out of the footballing consciousness for a month?
For the likes of Diaz and Mohamed Salah, it will probably be a bit of both. The pair are similar in their desire to win and to be the best.
They’ll surely want to remind everyone of their class when the spotlight falls back on them once more.
After all, both are now amongst the finest attacking players in the Premier League. For Salah, he can claim to be in a class even higher than that, perhaps.
But despite Henderson’s claims, Diaz probably has to do a little more to put himself into his teammate’s bracket.
The World Cup would have given the 25-year-old the perfect platform to do that. Instead, he’ll just have to do the business for Liverpool.
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