Luis Diaz leaves Liverpool training camp after £65.5m transfer breakthrough
Luis Diaz is leaving Liverpool's pre-season tour in Tokyo after the Reds agreed a £65.5m deal with Bayern Munich to sell the wantaway Colombian.
Diaz, 28, has been given permission to leave the club's training camp in Japan to seal a move to the German giants which has been 12 months in the making.
The Reds' No.7 has been pushing for a move to Munich after informing the Reds' hierarchy that he wants to leave this summer. His decision came after the club refused to enter contract negotiations.
Diaz and his representatives have been after a new contract for over a year, believing him to be comparatively underpaid on Merseyside, having still been on the same basic terms since arriving on Merseyside in a £37m move from Porto in January 2022.
Diaz had initially hoped to stay at the club, where he was an important figure in last season's Premier League triumph. But Kop bosses had been unwilling to open discussions over an improved deal, given he still had two years remaining on his contract, a decision that led to frustration with Diaz and his representatives, and duly saw them push to depart.
Diaz missed Liverpool's 4-2 defeat in a friendly with AC Milan on Saturday as they continue their pre-season tour of Asia. Arne Slot confirmed post-match that Diaz was absent due to his uncertain future but insisted that he's been training well.
Following the loss against Milan, Slot was asked if both the 28-year-old and team-mate Darwin Nunez's absences were linked to potential transfers.
"In Lucho's situation it was, yeah," the Liverpool boss told reporters. "There are a lot of rumours around it lately and I cannot go into that. But he is training really well with us and we have decided, for now, not to play him yet.
"In Darwin's situation, he has trained really well also and played a few good games for us already this pre-season. He was injured so we didn't want to take the risk and it was also the same with Wataru Endo, trained with us all week but we didn't want to take a risk with him either.
Liverpool rejected an opening bid from Bayern worth £58.5m last week. But Vincent Kompany's side have been determined to sign Diaz and are now set to get their man. Bayern made an improved offer of £65.5m over the weekend which Liverpool have now accepted.
Bayern boss Kompany spoke to Diaz during a recent video call and outlined his plans for Diaz. The German giants have been desperate to sign a forward after missing out on top target Florian Wirtz - a race won by Liverpool - and having lost both Leroy Sane and Thomas Muller this summer on free transfers. They are also facing a considerable period without Jamal Musiala due to injury.
Diaz will depart Anfield having scored 41 goals in 148 appearances for Liverpool.
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