Liverpool are preparing to take Luis Diaz’s game to the next level in the current pre-season.
Diaz was originally expected to sign for Liverpool in the 2022 summer transfer window. However, after Tottenham made their advances known, new Liverpool sporting director Julian Ward opened his extensive Portuguese contacts book before a move was made in the final days of the January window.
Now, according to the Liverpool Echo, it has always been known that pre-season is when the 25-year-old Diaz would really be moulded into a Liverpool player.
The opening few months of life on Merseyside were punctuated by a lack of detailed tactical instructions for Diaz as Klopp was wary of overloading his new signing with too much information and instead, Diaz was encouraged to play his natural game.
This worked out pretty well for the Reds, with Diaz slotting seamlessly into Liverpool’s attack alongside Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
But as Liverpool approach the summer schedule with something of a new-look strike force following the £64m arrival of Darwin Nunez and the transfer of Sadio Mane, the pressure on Diaz to deliver is expected to increase and a full pre-season will be key to adjusting fully.
The need to truly bring Diaz up to speed in the summer rather than as soon as he joined is something Klopp has been aware of for a while anyway:
"We have a pre-season next summer when we can work on all the little things with him, where we can do those fine adjustments," Klopp said earlier this year. "Every coach would say the same about a January signing. You do it, but if you could, you would do it in the summer."
"Yes, the start has been really good. But he is a long-term project for us and we are a long-term project for him. There is loads more to come."
Will Diaz be able to step up to the plate and replace Sadio Mane?