Former Tottenham and Rangers star Alan Hutton believes Luis Diaz will be the man to replace Sadio Mane.
The Senegalese forward recently left Liverpool to join Bayern Munich for a fee rising to over £30 million, after he revealed early on in the summer that he would not renew his contract.
Unsurprisingly, Mane’s departure has left a gaping hole in the Liverpool frontline, and the Reds will certainly miss his goals.
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However, pundit Alan Hutton believes his replacement already arrived at Anfield back in January.
When asked about who can replace Mane, Hutton told Football Insider : “I think Diaz has shown that he can”
“He’s so young, he hit the ground running, we all thought that he was going to sign for Liverpool and he was going to take his time to settle in but no, he was thrown straight into the mix, he started to become a regular and we saw why."
"He was so good.”
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He went on to continue to praise the Colombian, stating that “Now he’s into his second season, he knows what it’s all about, I think he’s only going to get better.
“I don’t think it’s a huge problem, Mane leaving, because they’ve got people coming through that are going to take that weight.”
Luis Diaz arrived from Porto in the January transfer window and he hit the ground running with a streak of impressive performances.
In the tail-end of the season he scored important goals against Man United and Spurs in the race for the title and against Villareal to help Liverpool get through to the Champions League final.
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Other members of the Liverpool squad have also spoken on the Colombian’s importance to the team.
Fabinho told The Athletic that players like Diaz will be “increasingly important” next season.
Topics: Sadio Mane, Liverpool
Ben King