Barcelona were once looking at signing £50m Liverpool player who has ‘everything’

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It has been a number of years since Liverpool have had to fend off the advances of Barcelona for one of their top players.

Over the past 15 years or so, the Reds have been stung not once, not twice, but three times by raids from the La Liga giants.

Of course, Liverpool haven’t done badly out of that. The £142m they received for Philippe Coutinho in 2018 was put to use brilliantly. First Javier Mascherano and then Luis Suarez also brought in over £90m. Then, over the past six years, Barca have stayed away.

In recent weeks, there have been claims that they may be thinking about opening up those lines of communication again, though. Colombian outlet El Heraldo have reported that Barcelona want Luis Diaz. And according to former Barca scout Bojan Krkic Snr, it wouldn’t be the first time the Catalans have targeted Liverpool’s No.7.

“When he was at Porto, we were evaluating him and following him,” Bojan tells Marca. “Luis Diaz has quality, he’s got talent, he’s got speed, he’s got dribbling, he’s got goals, he’s got everything. But the problem is that, if you look at Liverpool, they don’t have continuity in performance and they’re not undisputed starters.

“That happened to him, also at Porto. That is, it does the best and the worst, not the worst. But he’s a player who plays a great game and the next he’s gone. He lives in the past and that’s important.”

Barca looking at Diaz

Some years ago, it might have felt inevitable that Diaz may end up at Barcelona from here. As the history’s of Coutinho, Mascherano and Suarez show, that is a natural path for South Americans.

Three different players from three different South American countries. And yet none could resist the temptations of Barca when they came calling.

Nowadays though, things are not the same. As well as Liverpool being in a stronger position than they were when losing each of that trio, Barcelona are in a much, much weaker one.

They may have qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals last night, but Barca are not the monster they so regularly were throughout the 2000’s and 2010’s. Not even close.

If a player has the choice between Anfield and the Camp Nou in 2024, it shouldn’t be a difficult decision. Liverpool are in rude health, Barca are struggling.

Nevertheless, reports that a South American wants to make the switch to Spain should always be concerning. And El Heraldo claim that there was recently a meeting between Diaz’s agent and Barca president Joan Laporta.

With Liverpool said to be open to the idea of selling their £50m signing, maybe it wouldn’t be as a painful an exit as Coutinho, Mascherano or indeed Suarez.

Still, Diaz has shown signs that he’s turned a corner with his form. Having been disappointing for swathes of the season, he was terrific on Sunday against Manchester City, albeit he should have scored. The Colombian has clearly been on Barca’s radar for some time, but he shouldn’t be going anywhere just yet.