Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised January’s signing of Luis Diaz for his immediate impact at Anfield, acknowledging that he is close to a miracle.
Signed from Porto for the first £ 37m on the deadline, Diaz has managed to score two goals in his first 12 appearances for Liverpool, but his performances have gone beyond statistics and many have told Klopp’s men to continue winning the title because of his impact.
“You don’t expect any immediate surprises from this type of player,” the manager told Sky Sports. “But he’s not far from doing that exactly. May it continue for a long time.”
Klopp continued: “There is a reason to sign a player. The reason is the level he has. The reason is the way he plays the game.
“For Luis, where the most important thing was that when we saw him we knew he was going to come in soon. That was really hard but because he didn’t have to change, that’s why we have a confident guy here.
“He was in very good form with Porto, playing well in Colombia, so he came here full of confidence. But we are trying to make sure he doesn’t lose that because of the playbook as we tell him he has. To do this and he has to do that. We want him to be natural.”
Klopp went on to admit that Liverpool scouts were talking about Diaz from the moment they first watched the Colombian.
“It was clear from the start that we could see that he would be a player who could play fast, at a certain level, if he could deal with it mentally,” said Klopp. “Because I can’t take the pressure he feels exhausted when he hears it.”
In the end, Klopp admitted that Diaz was still accustomed to life in England, and the language barrier was still a major problem but expressed his delight at how good the winger could be once he settled down.
He continued: “That is always completely different from player to player but for Luis, for obvious reasons, there is a language problem for me. I do not speak Spanish and he does not speak English. He is studying. I do not read that way.
“Until then, we have a lot of people here who are always chatting with him. It will take time. He’s in a new team and he thinks about what people expect. But he’s obviously a natural person here. That’s why he plays the way he plays.”
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