Barcelona make formal approach to Liverpool for Luis Diaz – The Athletic

Barcelona have made Liverpool winger Luis Diaz their top priority for this summer, with Director of Football Deco maintaining interest in the Colombia international from last summer. Hansi Flick and Deco seemingly believe that he would be a way of strengthening their forward line, and now Barcelona are taking steps to make the deal happen.

On Wednesday it was revealed that Liverpool were ‘perplexed’ by all of the stories emerging about Diaz, having not heard from the player himself, and from Barcelona. However that situation has now changed, according to a report from The Athletic, who say that the Catalan giants have now been in contact with Liverpool.

Their information is that on Wednesday, Barcelona made formal contact with Liverpool regarding Diaz. And were met with an unequivocal response: Diaz is not for sale. They have told Deco that they have no intention of selling a player in Arne Slot’s plans for next season.

Diaz has also received interest from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, and Manchester City last summer. They say that the Saudi pursuit of Bruno Fernandes has ‘helped to establish a market value’ for Diaz. The same outlet previously noted that Al-Hilal were willing to pay €95m for Fernandes.