Liverpool Facing Big Departure Decision Ahead of New Season | OneFootball

Luis Diaz, Liverpool and the Looming Departure: Dave Hendrick’s Take

There are murmurings around Merseyside again, and they centre on one name: Luis Diaz. In a searing new episode of The Daily Red Podcast on Anfield Index, host Dave Hendrick laid out the bleak reality many Liverpool fans have been reluctant to accept. It looks increasingly likely that Diaz will be leaving Liverpool, and perhaps sooner than anyone expected.

Gentleman’s Agreement and the Bayern Connection

The podcast kicks off with a bombshell. “There’s more news about Luis Diaz,” Hendrick begins, “and it comes from Germany and it comes from Colombia.” According to what Hendrick shares, the Colombian winger has a “gentleman’s agreement that he can leave Liverpool for a fee of 69 million,” a figure translating to roughly 80 million euros.

Hendrick continues, “He is prepared to ask Liverpool to let him leave this summer, if he has not done so already.” This is no speculative waffle. Diaz’s representatives, his father and agent, are reportedly “in talks with Bayern Munich.”

Photo: IMAGO

Bayern are not alone in their pursuit. Barcelona and even Saudi Arabian clubs have expressed interest. Yet for Liverpool, Hendrick sees the financials taking centre stage. “From Liverpool’s point of view, the best thing that could happen is that he goes to Saudi Arabia because that’s where we’ll get the most money,” he explains. From Diaz’s side, “Barcelona is probably the dream, but Bayern is probably where he’d make the most money of the two European options.”

Diaz’s Place in Klopp’s Plans

Looking ahead, Hendrick doesn’t sugarcoat it: “We should probably plan for the season to come without him. I think it’s very unlikely that he will stay.” He stresses, “I’ve thought that all summer. Thought that since the middle of last season that he’d probably be sold. I’ve said that repeatedly.”

The reasoning is practical, if not emotional. “He’s 28. We don’t want to extend his contract because we don’t want to extend him into his 30s.” Diaz, Hendrick notes, hasn’t displayed a “consistent elite level of performance while playing for us thus far.”

That context paints a broader picture of a squad being restructured with surgical precision. The club appears content to part ways with Diaz and reinvest the funds. Hendrick even suggests Liverpool may already have his successor: “I think Florian Wirtz coming in is the Luis Diaz replacement.”

Replacements and Reinforcements

Hendrick names a list of wingers he’d consider only if they were truly top tier: “If Bradley Barcola, Desire Doué, Kvaratskhelia, Rodrigo… if one of them was available, great.” But he’s sceptical of many links. “Certainly wouldn’t want Anthony Gordon. Mediocre and hugely overpriced.”

Instead, the real excitement seems to lie in youth and future planning. “If we had Mo and [Tyler] Dibling on the right, Wirtz and Gakpo on the left,” he outlines, then the need is “two strikers.” Hendrick envisions a strategy of selling Diaz, Harvey Elliott and Darwin Núñez to finance a new-look forward line.

Photo IMAGO

His cold logic doesn’t miss a beat: “If we can sell Harvey, sell Diaz, and sell Darwin,” Hendrick calculates, Liverpool would be able to sign their “striker of choice” — Alexander Isak, and fill other gaps without breaking the bank.

Diaz’s Legacy and the Future Forward Line

Hendrick concludes with one of the most sobering thoughts of the episode. Though the financials make sense, the departure of Diaz represents something deeper. “You can never replace what we lost with that fella,” he says of the emotional weight tied to Jota and by extension to the departing Diaz.

As the club prepares for the coming season, all eyes will be on what happens next. Luis Diaz may have come to Anfield as a rising star, but if Dave Hendrick’s insights are to be believed and his record suggests they should be, the Colombian’s time at Liverpool is nearing its end.