Bayern Munich are continuing their pursuit of Liverpool winger Luis Diaz and are confident of landing the Colombia star, despite seeing a first offer of £58million rejected
Bayern Munich are confident of signing Luis Diaz, despite Liverpool rejecting their first offer for the winger. The Reds turned down an offer of £58.6million for Diaz on Tuesday, but know the Colombia international wants to leave the club.
Liverpool didn’t even consider Bayern’s opening offer and have been firm in their stance that they would only sell Diaz for huge money, potentially £86m. He contributed 17 goals and eight assists in 50 appearances across all competitions to help Liverpool end the 2024/25 campaign with the Premier League trophy and Arne Slot wants to keep him.
The club have been busy in the summer transfer window, signing Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez to strengthen their squad. They are now chasing Hugo Ekitike and have already agreed terms for the Eintracht Frankfurt striker.
Frankfurt rejected a bid of £70m from Newcastle for Ekitike, but Liverpool believe they can sign him for a fee slightly higher than that because the Frenchman prefers a move to Anfield. But that transfer could see Diaz depart for Bayern, according to reports in Germany.
Bild reports that Bayern have not been deterred by their initial bid being rejected and have managed to schedule a meeting with Liverpool chiefs to further discuss the move. Diaz has already agreed terms with Bayern and is keen to follow in the footsteps of Sadio Mane and move on two years before his contract is due to expire.
Bayern reportedly believe that, once Ekitike is through the door, Liverpool will be forced to balance the books by selling Diaz. Slot’s side have already spent over £180m on transfers this summer and have not offset that through sales, with Jarell Quansah, Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Nat Phillips not netting them much.
It is understood that Diaz is frustrated by Liverpool’s stance over a new contract for him. He remains on the same contract that he signed when arriving from Porto in January 2022 for an initial £37.5m and is therefore paid a lot less than stars like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who were handed new deals earlier this year.
He has 41 goals and 23 assists in 148 games across all competitions for Liverpool and clearly believes he is not valued properly at Anfield. After interest from Barcelona and Saudi Arabia, Bayern have emerged as a viable option for him.
Diaz has changed his tune from the end of last season, when he insisted he was happy at Liverpool. “I feel I’m going through a really good period,” he told the club website back in May. “I’m really happy to be here, to be part of this great institution, this great club and to have great team-mates around me.
“From the moment I arrived, I felt great pride. I always tried to work hard for this, and to see that nowadays things are working out for me fills me with pride and I’m really happy because that’s what I work for.”