More Details of Liverpool’s Diaz Gazumping Emerge

Now that the dust has settled on Luis Diaz’s very dramatic and piss-boiling transfer, details about the negotiation for the new Liverpool FC winger’s transfer are being revealed... and boy, I get why Tottenham are furious.

Courtesy of reporting from The Athletic, it appears that Tottenham “had a signed agreement in place with Porto” and that they had ‘terms also agreed with Diaz himself’. But because the Colombian was away on international duty, the agreement wasn’t actually signed, which left room open for complications. And complicated things did get, Porto were apparently using Jorge Mendes as their middleman to Spurs, Liverpool having monitored Diaz for a while now... weren’t:

“The representative in question is said by sources to have objected when it became apparent that Jorge Mendes had the mandate from Porto to oversee the Tottenham move. Liverpool, who were not using Mendes as an intermediary, pounced and agreed a deal at more or less the same price. The Athletic has contacted the Colombian agent for comment.”

“Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who did everything he could to pull off the deal, was raging at the turn of events. Diaz had been enthusiastic at the prospect of joining Spurs, and some believe it would have been a better move for him given the stage of his career, but ultimately, he too was seduced by the prospect of Champions League football and working with Jurgen Klopp.”

Thanks for the assist, Jorge. The report also notes how the Reds’ recruitment team essentially let Spurs do all the legwork in negotiating down the Colombian’s (£37.6m) price from his £66.8m release clause, before swooping in when Porto raised concerns on the possibility of a deal coming to fruition between them and Spurs. To add insult to injury, Liverpool also paid a slightly smaller fee up front at £37.5m with the same add-ons that Spurs had negotiated for.

All around, a true tour de force in trolling. Well done, Liverpool FC.