Luis Diaz would undoubtedly be a candidate for Player of the Season if it were given out for the first five games of the 2024–2025 Premier League season.
The Colombian winger has been playing brilliantly for Liverpool, lighting up the forward line under Arne Slot with five goals in as many appearances. Not very long ago, Diaz’s status as a player for Liverpool appeared to be in doubt.
The winger was rumored to be leaving Anfield, with Anthony Gordon of Newcastle United being considered by the Reds as a potential replacement. Liverpool is obviously pleased it didn’t force Diaz out the exit door during the summer.
Naturally, Diaz had proven his mettle under Klopp. When he moved from Porto to Liverpool in January 2022, he made an immediate impact. But Diaz’s development was hampered by injuries and difficult personal circumstances, and inconsistency began to show in his play. Although the attacking output wasn’t always there, the talent was.
This season, it’s been an entirely different story. Mohamed Salah has also enjoyed a strong start to the new campaign, scoring three times in five games, but the Egyptian has been upstaged by his Colombian teammate on the opposite wing. No other wide player in the Premier League is currently operating on the same level as Diaz.
Slot has largely stuck with the same approach that worked so well for Klopp as Liverpool manager, but the Dutch coach is making more of an effort to get Diaz into good goalscoring positions. While Klopp generally wanted the Colombian to stay wide, Slot is asking Diaz to get into more central areas where he can finish chances.
At his best, there is a Luis Suarez-like quality to the way Diaz wriggles through opposition defences, somehow keeping the ball at his feet. He plays with intensity in and out of possession and that makes him the perfect figure to set the tone from the front for Liverpool. The 27-year-old is really coming into his own as a key figure.
Despite the shock home defeat to Nottingham Forest earlier this month, Liverpool has enjoyed a good start to life under Slot. The former Feyenoord manager hasn’t attempted too much too soon and has instead made micro-adjustments to get more out of some of the players he inherited from the previous regime. Diaz is one of those players.
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