Porto’s Colombian winger Luis Diaz was a wanted man around England during January. But despite the interest from North London, he moved a bit further north – to Liverpool. He signed for Premier League side Liverpool on Sunday from Portuguese side FC Porto. The 25-year-old Diaz signed a contract till 2027 for a reported fee of $50 million, with a further $15 million in potential bonuses.Diaz joins Liverpool after two-and-a-half seasons with FC Porto, where he made 125 appearances and scored 41 goals. He was rumoured to be Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s primary target for the summer transfer window, but growing interest in the player, most notably from Tottenham Hotspur, forced the Reds to move early.The moment you’ve been waiting for…Luis Diaz is a RED 🔴 #VamosLuis pic.twitter.com/wl9koUlPgl— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 30, 2022 Diaz has had a remarkable life story so far. He was born in one of the poorest regions of South America – La Guajira. Many members of the Wayuu indigenous people of the region don’t live to become adults because malnutrition is a common cause of death in those parts. Luis was lucky to make it as far as he has.After impressing at a Colombian Football Association trial, he was picked up by second-tier team Barranquilla and that’s where the football journey started for the skinny boy. The club has had to put him on a special diet so he could gain some 10 kilograms and be able to compete against much stronger opponents. It worked. Little wonder Atletico Junior, one of the foremost Colombian teams and also based in Barranquilla, soon snapped him up. It was there Diaz became a regular in the Colombian top division, scoring 13 league goals in 2018 and enjoying the first of his 31 appearances for the Colombian national team.What a steal: Liverpool book a medical for Spurs target DiazThen the move to Portugal followed. It was a meteoric rise – and there is more to come.Klopp expressed his delight at the signing of Diaz. “I could not be happier that we’ve been able to get this deal done and bring Luis to Liverpool. I have always been a believer in only signing players in January if you would want to sign them in the summer, and that’s very much the case with Luis. He is an outstanding player and someone we’ve been tracking for a very long time. This team deserved to add quality and when we played against Luis earlier this season in the Champions League, we saw what a danger he is, how fast he is and how his mentality was to help his team.”Wednesday, 02.30: (2.00) Argentina (3.40) Colombia (4.30)Liverpool sent a delegation to Argentina, where Colombia play on Tuesday, to conduct a medical so the move could be completed before the January transfer window closed. Salah and Liverpool team-mates Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino will all be out of contract in the summer of 2023, by which point they would all be aged 31.Liverpool wamekamilisha usajili wa mshambuliaji Luis Díaz 25, kutoka Porto kwa kitita cha dola milioni 50. pic.twitter.com/XxXbOWQERb— Mozzart Bet Kenya (@mozzartbetkenya) January 30, 2022 Diaz would add fresh blood to the Liverpool forward line that could look a lot different next season in case Salah doesn’t sign a new contract with the club. Many fans fear that Diaz’s arrival is an indication that the Reds won’t be able to keep the Egyptian.
