Diaz Delight! Liverpool Sign A Potential World-Beater. Again.

(Carvalho To Follow?)

With Liverpool having no games for a couple of weeks and by all accounts not signing anyone this January, it seemed like a good time to decompress from football, as some of the players will no doubt be doing.

But to borrow a phrase I like to use, football never stops, never rests, never sleeps. (Neither do men covered in purple rubber gloves.)

Inevitably, then came the news about Luis Diaz, one of the most thrilling and Liverpool-like attacking talents in world football, due to be snapped up in the summer, if possible, but with Spurs speeding up the market (as they did with Adama Traoré), now on his way early. Before long, talk of Fulham’s fabulous young Fabio Carvalho followed. As I write this, no deal has been concluded, with talks ongoing.

(Albeit a deal seems to make most sense if Carvalho, who can leave Fulham for free in the summer – plus a compensation fee due to his age – is bought and loaned back to help them with their promotion push. Then all parties get something from the arrangement.)

On Diaz, TTT tactics writer Mizgan Masani wrote a scouting analysis last month, and Daniel Rhodes has followed it today with his own customary ‘welcome to Liverpool’ report. Mizgan has also followed it up with a look at Fabio Carvalho, a young player who looks absolutely sensational to me.

I thought I’d add a fair few thoughts of my own, as Liverpool ramp up the rebuild that will involve talent from the Academy, super-skilled teenage recruits, and mid-20s superstars in the making. Then, which of the 30-year-old strikers will be part of the transition, or will they all be gone within a couple of years? (And would that be wise?) Is this the time to see if Salah accepts a wage increase more in-line with the Reds’ wage structure; or to sell this summer; or to enjoy the last 18 months of his time at the club?

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As a bonus for this newsletter, here are a few more paragraphs from the piece:

… What money, or remaining games, the Reds could then get from Mané, Salah and Roberto Firmino before 2023 would be interesting to see. All three need not be gone, as I keep saying; but all three are unlikely to be at the club in 2023/24.

The thing is, while selling one/some this summer would bring in relatively big transfer funds (partly diminished from their stellar values by age and shortening contract lengths), if the overhaul – the team of 2023 onwards – were successfully to involve Diaz, Jota, Gordon, Elliott and Carvalho, that’s the next five years (at least) all sorted for a total that’s a fraction less than a Jack Grealish or a Romelu Lukaku, in transfer fees at least.

Then there’s Curtis Jones, too, who is surely only going to improve, and who cost nothing. We’re still talking prospects in some cases, but Elliott looked ready early season, and even more ready to improve. Carvalho looks about as good as any player I’ve seen highlights of in the Championship. Diaz is 25, has starred at major tournaments, and played for a big club in Portugal and in the Champions League, so the step up is not so huge …

(Full article is 4,000 words, so this is just a small section.)