Welcome Luis Fernando Díaz Marulanda - Page 3

DeanoUK · 30-01-22, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norbs

Haha, I'm in Haywards Heath on Monday

That’s where I live, small world

danperkins · 30-01-22, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SB

If we got offered upwards of £35m we’d sell him I reckon.

couldn't refuse that for him.

S-RED · 30-01-22, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norbs

Haha, I'm in Haywards Heath on Monday

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fierce

So am I! How did I not know this already

We're actual Hove tho, actually

My boy resides in hove too

labourRed · 30-01-22, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepe79

https://twitter.com/PSierraR/status/1487671543182282757

Why's the fella pissing in the background?

SB · 30-01-22, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danperkins

couldn't refuse that for him.

Not sure he’s the same player since his injuries, not that we’ve seen that much of him this season.

Shaggy · 30-01-22, 12:14 PM

Quote:

How Liverpool 'backdoored' Tottenham to win battle for Luis Diaz - and outflanked Daniel Levy

Sources say furious Levy threatened to report Liverpool's recruitment team to the club's owners,

but there was one major flaw to this plan

Friday morning and news of a classic transfer switcheroo. Luis Diaz, Porto’s Colombian forward long-anticipated to be heading for Tottenham Hotspur, was now scorching an unexpected new path in the febrile January window that took him straight to Anfield.

“Backdoored”. That is the old transfer window hands’ term for the deal that is repurposed in the white heat of the last days of negotiations to take the player in question to a completely different club. The fees and the wages are much the same, although there is likely some incentive for the player and his representatives to switch horses at the last moment. But essentially the deal that is in place for the subject to move from club A to club B is hijacked by club C who quietly emerge into the negotiations through the figurative backdoor.

It was not news on Friday to Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman. He had found out 24 hours earlier he was being backdoored and tried his best over Thursday to regain the advantage as Liverpool’s recruitment department and their new 25 year-old goalscorer came to a swift agreement.

Liverpool vs Spurs is a fierce transfer rivalry from the early days of the previous decade when they were largely in the same market for players. At the end of the 2012 summer window the Fulham striker Clint Dempsey joined Spurs and not Liverpool, regarded as a failing by Liverpool’s new owners Fenway Sports Group who at the time were a lot less keen on signing the United States international than their then-manager, Brendan Rodgers.

That same summer, Spurs had completed a deal for Gylfi Sigurdsson, another Rodgers target in whom Fenway only had a lukewarm interest. The respective budgets and ambitions of the clubs put them head-to-head on further players over that decade. In 2013, Liverpool had a deal agreed with Anzhi Makhachkala for the Brazilian Willian. Levy backdoored Liverpool to agree a deal with the player for Spurs. And then, in what some say was genuinely at the moment Willian prepared to press pen nib to paper on his contract, Chelsea backdoored Spurs.

Danny Ings, a free agent when he left Burnley in 2015, chose Liverpool over Spurs. Spurs’ evidence at his subsequent compensation tribunal that they would have paid £15 million for the striker raised the fee payable by his new club. Dutch midfielder Gini Wijnaldum chose Liverpool over Spurs in 2016.

Come Thursday, when Levy finally learned just how far down the road Liverpool’s recruitment team had progressed with Diaz, there was precious little he could do about it. Well-placed sources say that Levy threatened to report Liverpool’s recruitment staff to Fenway owners John W Henry and Mike Gordon. The key flaw in that plan being that Henry and Gordon were delighted with the strategy pursued.

It had all started last year with Porto’s financial problems - news of which had started to circulate in the game. Liverpool were aware of how serious those had become by the delays the Portuguese club had sought in paying the balance on their fees owed on the deal for Serb midfielder Marko Gruijic.

Through the autumn and towards the end of the year the club were making it known that they would sell Diaz, the joint-top goalscorer at last summer’s Copa America. Jurgen Klopp had identified Diaz as his first-choice recruit and Liverpool were interested. Diaz had an €80m buyout clause but the price was set by Porto at €60m plus add-ons. At that cost Liverpool were not interested. They said they would meet Porto after the January window to discuss a possible summer deal.

A few weeks later Porto told Liverpool there were other interested parties, and the Premier League club asked to be kept up to speed. More than once, Liverpool said they were not interested at the price being quoted, and in the meantime Levy started negotiating. The only caveat on Liverpool’s side being that if a deal was agreed, the recruitment team asked that they could be informed. They told the players’ representatives they would take any Spurs deal for Diaz to Fenway for consideration.

Recruitment at Anfield is in the process of being handed over to Julian Ward, assistant sporting director, by his current boss – soon to be predecessor - Michael Edwards. Worth also noting that Edwards, who has overseen 10 years-worth of highly successful transfer strategy at Liverpool, was previously at Spurs.

Levy agreed a €45m fee with around €15m of add-ons. It was in the add-ons he drove a hard bargain – they were based on targets that would be difficult for Diaz to achieve. Once that was agreed, Liverpool were given sight of the deal. Ward and Edwards, working closely with Dave Fallows, the head of recruitment, moved quickly.

Fenway agreed to pay the fee. Desperate for a cash injection to deal with payments due, Porto asked for €8m by this coming Monday. Liverpool said they could do it. A FaceTime call between Klopp and Diaz was sanctioned by Porto and the pair met at last, albeit remotely. Diaz was in the Colombia team hotel as they prepared for their World Cup qualifier against Peru on Friday in the city of Barranquilla. Klopp was on Merseyside. They got on well.

By Thursday morning, a deal was agreed between Liverpool and Porto: €45m up front and €15m in add-ons, more or less what had been agreed between Porto and Spurs. In addition, that €8m would be paid almost immediately – not an insignificant amount of cash for any club to find in a few days. Diaz and his representatives told Porto that Liverpool were the preferred destination. A transfer agreement was in place by the end of Thursday.

For Levy, missing out on his second major signing of the window after Adama Traore was a major setback in his attempts to galvanise Antonio Conte’s squad – especially as the news on AC Milan’s Franck Kessie was to be much the same later in the day. On Thursday, the Spurs chairman tried to get back into the running with an improved offer to Porto but these things tend to have a momentum of their own. Those crucial funds for Porto had been arranged. Diaz and Klopp had spoken. The deal was moving inexorably in Liverpool’s direction and by close of play on Friday the backdoor closed gently behind them.

__________________
Thanks very much for being ‘This Mornings’ Farmer’

Buzzo · 30-01-22, 12:24 PM

SB · 30-01-22, 12:30 PM

Love it.

Shaggy · 30-01-22, 12:59 PM

__________________
Thanks very much for being ‘This Mornings’ Farmer’

destinydude · 30-01-22, 01:00 PM

Let's goo

Seems like a proper pacy player with a banger in him

shanks69 · 30-01-22, 01:00 PM

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/liv...nsfer-fc-porto

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

Kenneth · 30-01-22, 01:00 PM

Very nice.

Zapater · 30-01-22, 01:01 PM

After years of missing out on players at the last second with Malouda, Willian etc. it feels really good to be on the right side of these for once. Spurs sour grapes is just one more plus.

Irishnev · 30-01-22, 01:03 PM

spud_gun · 30-01-22, 01:04 PM

Still not 100% convinced it's a done deal

MosRay · 30-01-22, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaggy

https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/statu...56934400856069

I am quite excited about this purchase. Hopefully he'll settle in quickly and JK works his magic and turns Luis from an exciting player to a world class one

Fredo · 30-01-22, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spud_gun

Still not 100% convinced it's a done deal

Still work permit plus international clearance to be completed so technically you’re right.

Bender · 30-01-22, 01:13 PM

mofo looks like Dominic Salanki

Buzzo · 30-01-22, 01:14 PM

It’s like a hostage situation.

__________________
Create a memory

Buzzo · 30-01-22, 01:16 PM

__________________
Create a memory

Exiled_red · 30-01-22, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaggy

https://twitter.com/SamWallaceTel/st...10092766162944

Threatening to report our recruitment team to our owners? I bet the recruitment team were shitting themselves

Exiled_red · 30-01-22, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzzo

https://twitter.com/lfc/status/1487756795544223746

Welcome to LFC

S-RED · 30-01-22, 01:22 PM

Boom, happy Sunday everybody

Bender · 30-01-22, 01:24 PM

Spurs are still monitoring the situation

Paul12 · 30-01-22, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frank the tank

He's fuckin brilliant...

Bobby will need to work with him on his goal celebrations though.

Looks from that like a like-for-like with Sadio, but hasn't he (Diaz) actually been playing deeper this season?

Buzzo · 30-01-22, 01:36 PM

__________________
Create a memory

S-RED · 30-01-22, 01:37 PM

Diaz movement and Bobby's brain/speed of thought I cannot wait; especially with Salah taking up two defenders also. Just need to work out how to drag teams out from the low block or are we just going to let Diaz shoot from 25 yds constantly. ��

Irishnev · 30-01-22, 02:23 PM

baitman · 30-01-22, 02:58 PM

Sporting a semi

BigChief · 30-01-22, 03:54 PM

A very importo signing.

I don't know anyone not excited by this.

red g · 30-01-22, 04:06 PM

Most excited forward signing since Torres.

We all know how good our front 4 are now, But they have blossomed at Anfield.

This guy looks the dogs bollocks now.

shanks69 · 30-01-22, 05:12 PM

https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldTalk/s...qWZ19i3JQ&s=09

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

Irishnev · 30-01-22, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanks69

https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldTalk/s...qWZ19i3JQ&s=09

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

Irishnev · 30-01-22, 05:59 PM

dizzycat · 30-01-22, 08:23 PM

We may have to apply for group membership of the magic circle with the talent we have.now.

Myo · 31-01-22, 01:35 PM

BBC piece on his origin and ethnic background...

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59352834

SB · 02-02-22, 12:30 AM

Colombia vs Argentina kicking off now. And our man starts again

SB · 02-02-22, 12:52 AM

Not sure if anyone else is watching this but possession is about 80% to Argentina. Diaz’s first two touches he was hacked down. If anyone was scouting players in this you’d offer big money for Spurs reject Lo Celso. He’s been class along with Di Maria

SB · 02-02-22, 01:03 AM

Colombia defensively are a joke. 1-0 Argentina

I feel sorry for Diaz in a shit team like this. They haven’t scored in 6 matches apparently

danperkins · 02-02-22, 07:37 AM

Columbia are fairly poor internationally these days. I can't watch South American football as it's so cynical and stop start. Once Diaz got through unscathed happy days.