'He's a great player' - Liverpool 'beat' Barcelona to Luis Diaz transfer, reveals Laporta

• Barcelona considered Diaz in January
• Liverpool accelerated summer plans
• Colombian would move to Anfield

WHAT HAPPENED? Diaz joined Liverpool in January after they accelerated plans to sign him in the summer transfer window amid reported interest from Tottenham. Laporta has now revealed that Barcelona were also in pursuit of the forward, but ending up missing out due to their economic situation.

WHAT HE SAID: Speaking in a press conference, the Barca president explained: "At that time we had just landed at the club and Liverpool beat us to it, but we were considering bringing [Diaz] in. But we were in an economic situation that we had to resolve and reverse. Liverpool were ahead of us."

Laporta added: ''He's a great player who has a great sense of belonging to Liverpool and I'm not going to talk about it anymore, but we were interested at the time. We had a conversation with his representative, but they already had it very advanced [with Liverpool]."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Diaz has since gone on to establish himself as one of Jurgen Klopp's key players after lighting up the Premier League upon his arrival at Anfield. Barcelona, meanwhile, ended up signing Leeds winger Raphinha in the last transfer window and managed to tie Ousmane Dembele down to a new contract.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

WHAT NEXT FOR DIAZ? After bursting onto the scene in England, Diaz has unfortunately been sat on the sidelines nursing a knee injury for the last month or so, but should be back fit following the conclusion of the 2022 World Cup.