Ex-Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez delighted for Diaz: He was totally prepared for Anfield | OneFootball

Former Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez is delighted for Luis Diaz over his instant success at Anfield.

Diaz is expected to start when Liverpool aim for a seventh European Cup against Real Madrid in Paris on Saturday, having already netted in the quarter-final and semi-final wins against Benfica and Villarreal respectively.

"I'm just so happy for him," Gonzalez told the Liverpool Echo. "It's very difficult for a winger coming into the Premier League, and he is such a talented player.

"He is still young and in the games he has players already, he has shown so much. And he still has so much more to give to the team. I'm happy he's a Liverpool player. Playing at Liverpool there is always pressure, because it is a very big team. But he has enough skills and quality, and in the short time he's been at the club already, he's shown enough.

"Mentally he is more than prepared. Normally a player doesn't show enough in his first games, and you have to wait a year or maybe two for them to be comfortable. But in this case, it's totally different. The players who come to Liverpool are all strong mentally, and that's a good start to have."

Diaz's feat in usurping both Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane from the left wing is particularly appreciated by Gonzalez.

"I turned 22 when I came to Liverpool, I was a young player," he says. "I would have loved to have come to Liverpool at the age of 25 or 26. When I first came to Liverpool, I noticed the step up. But I lived in myself. You feel that pressure, mentally.

"It's difficult. When I was there, there were eight players in the same position and you started thinking 'am I going to play or not? We've got eight players in my position. What should I do? Should I stay and not play, or should I go somewhere else?'

"With pain in my heart, I decided I had to leave Liverpool, but if you need to play sometimes you need another option. Personally, I lived that experience, but Luis Diaz is totally prepared for Liverpool."