Barcelona and Liverpool draw out battle lines in Luis Diaz negotiation

Barcelona and Liverpool have made their positions clear on Colombian winger. The Catalan side have somewhat publicly cited the 28-year-old as their top target for the summer transfer window, and the Reds have been quite defiant in making it clear that he is not for sale.

After Liverpool leaked that they had rejected an approach from Barcelona for Diaz, this was taken by Barcelona to be a negotiation tactic, rightly or wrongly. Less than a day after the initial news was leaked though, Diaz himself spoke publicly on his future, admitting that there were talks ongoing with clubs that were not Liverpool, suggesting he was open to a move.

Despite the clear indication from Liverpool that they are not looking to move on Diaz at all, the consistent line of reporting is that the Reds could accept a deal for €80-85m for Diaz – at least in Spain. Barcelona have supposedly encouraged Diaz to speak with Liverpool and reduce those demands to in order to make a deal happen.

That is because Barcelona have imposed a limit of €60m for the deal. That is according to Sport, who say that there is an understanding that they will have to be patient for a deal to be done, and that figure may have variables included on top of it. However if the negotiation goes above that, then they will turn their attentions elsewhere.

Liverpool may well point out that this too could be a negotiation tactic. It appears Nico Williams is back on their shortlist, and unless they can negotiate with Athletic, Barcelona would have to pay €62m up front for him. Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford is also an option, but Barcelona want a loan with an option to buy, and United are prioritising a sale.