.jpg)
Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Ljinders has revealed how close Tottenham were to securing the services of Luis Diaz this January.
The Colombian enjoyed a magnificent start to the season at Porto, scoring 14 goals and assisting four in just 18 matches as Sergio Conceicao’s side rocketed to the top of the Premeira Liga.
This caught the interest of several clubs including Liverpool and Tottenham in January, with the Reds expected to do little to no business in the window.
Advert
Spurs put in a £37m offer for the winger but Porto turned it down, as they sought closer to his £66m release clause.
In typical Liverpool fashion in the transfer window, they swooped in with an identical offer except with £12m in add on bonuses.
Porto accepted, and two domestic trophies later, it has already proven itself as a masterstroke of a signing.
Quoted by the Liverpool Echo, Ljinders recalled how he influenced Diaz’s move in it’s final stages.
Advert
“I was on a skiing trip with my wife Danielle when, during dinner, our sporting director called me,” said Lijnders. “‘You and Jurgen have to speak with Luis Diaz in five minutes."
"We’ve just agreed with Porto but Tottenham are all-in as well. I joined the call and Jurgen was explaining to Luis how he would fit into our style and that we would help him."
Advert
"He said in reference to me joining (the call) ‘but you will hear this guy much more often!’ to which I immediately said ‘but I will explain things more calmly than Sergio (Conceicao, the Porto manager)!”
“I told him: ‘We want you desperately and have been pushing for the last one-and-a-half months with our owners and our sporting director, but you know that these kinds of transfers are not easy to accomplish."
"The good thing is you will train with Virgil, Robbo and Trent and they will make you so much stronger. Our idea is to create and score; you will have to tear these guys apart each day in training, which will make you better.”
“His agent translated Jurgen’s message and Julian Ward said ‘these two will make you a better player’. I told him there were not many clubs with more history and culture than Porto but Liverpool was one of them and he would feel this."
Advert
"Julian then walked with his phone to the trophy cabinet at AXA and finished with ‘we want to add to this and that’s why we want you’. If the boy wasn’t convinced, he would be now."
"What started as a bad adventure on the slopes ended with an incredible signing. We signed the one we wanted. My crazy day couldn’t have ended better. Would he be the difference-maker for the rest of this season? We hoped so,” he added.
He’s already turned Liverpool into a dynamic force on that left-hand side, and with a pre-season under his belt he could turn into an even more influential and established figure at Anfield.
Topics: Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Luis Diaz