Liverpool’s 2022 has been a year of two halves, with the Reds coming two games away from a historic quadruple last camaign before getting off to a poor start in the following season.
The 2022/23 season will be regarded by many Liverpool supporters as the term that they were within touching distance of greatness, with Manchester City once again beating Jurgen Klopp’s side to the Premier League title and Real Madrid besting the Merseyside giants in Paris in the UEFA Champions League final.
It’s been an extraordinary year for Liverpool, and in terms of a breakout player for the year, few would disagree on Luis Diaz, who signed for the Premier League giants at the start of the year and quickly established himself as one of the best players in the Reds’s squad.
Luis Diaz – Liverpool’s breakout player of 2022
Signed for a combined £50m from FC Porto in January, Diaz was recruited in preparation for the departure of Sadio Mane six months later in the summer. Yet few would have predicted the Colombian international to settle so quickly into life at Anfield as the winger did.
Assisting Takumi Minamino minutes into his Liverpool debut and then scoring against Norwich City in his second-ever Premier League start, it was clear that Klopp had another talent on his hands, so much so that the 25-year-old’s arrival prompted a system change that saw Mane replace Roberto Firmino in the centre-forward role.
More standout performances were to follow as Diaz scored and assisted against Benfica in a 3-1 Champions League quarter-final win that set Liverpool on their way to the final in France, with the attacker adding more strong accolade to his Reds’ CV in being named Man of the Match in the FA Cup final against Chelsea.
With four goals and two assists already this season, Diaz has been a shining light for Liverpool in what has been a campaign to forget for the Merseyside club, with the Anfield side currently sat 15 points off Premier League leaders Arsenal, with the winger himself now also ruled out until March due to a knee injury.
Real Madrid already eyeing move for Liverpool’s newest superstar
Diaz might have only been in England for just under a year, but interest already seems to be there for the South American phenom, with Defensa Central reporting that Real Madrid are eyeing the winger, who he himself dreams of one day playing for Los Blancos.
Given how Liverpool lost the Champions League final, a transfer most certainly won’t be in the pipeline for quite some time, yet Madrid’s interest is an encouraging sign that Diaz is doing the right things with Liverpool, and that his breakout year will set the forward on the path to becoming a world-class player.
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