Tottenham Hotspur were left stunned at how quickly Liverpool made their move to sign Luis Diaz from Porto in January.
The Athletic report that Tottenham were front-runners for Diaz’s signature with Porto willing to sell.
This is fairly common knowledge at this point; The Guardian report that Tottenham offered around £37.6million for Diaz.
That bid was rejected and the speed of Liverpool’s hijacking is now being disclosed.
It’s stated that Liverpool’s now-sporting director Julian Ward had strong contacts in Portugal and they tipped him off about Diaz’s availability.
Ward only needed a few hours to convince FSG’s Mike Gordon that Diaz was the man for Liverpool, and the Reds left Tottenham reeling.
The report claims that Tottenham simply ‘could not believe’ how quickly Liverpool managed to move in and sign Diaz.
Liverpool paid £37million rising to £49million for Diaz, a deal better than Tottenham’s initial offer.
Liverpool signing Diaz hurt Tottenham, but it’s not all bad
That was a major blow for Tottenham at the time.
Diaz had been shining for Porto and his form has continued at Liverpool, racking up 10 goals and eight assists in 38 games for the Reds.
The Colombian has been outstanding in a Liverpool shirt and his related injury problems this season have been a real nuisance.
Yet for Tottenham, this story didn’t completely end in pain and heartbreak.
Tottenham pivoted to signing Dejan Kulusevski instead and you could argue that the Swede is a better fit for Spurs than Diaz anyway.
Spurs wanted a right winger and Diaz is much better on the left, whereas Kulusevski is a natural down the right flank.
Add in that Kulusevski is a few years younger and the deal Tottenham struck was cheaper, and you start to think that Fabio Paratici’s misfortune with Diaz turned into a masterstroke.
There are probably large parts of the Tottenham fanbase now who wouldn’t even swap Kulusevski for Diaz now, which goes to show just how impressive he has been in North London.
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