Liverpool has agreed a transfer deal worth around $88 million (£66 million) for the Colombian winger Luis Diaz, who is set to join up with Bayern Munich after a medical early next week.
The 28-year-old has been granted permission by Liverpool to depart the club's pre-season tour in Asia. He was left out of Arne Slot's squad for the 4-2 defeat against AC Milan earlier in the weekend ahead of a possible exit.
Diaz is currently in Tokyo with the majority of his Reds teammates. While Liverpool has spent big in the transfer window this summer, this latest exit will bring in another substantial fee. In total, since Richard Hughes took on the post of sporting director, the club has brought in around $255 million (£190 million) in sales.
While Diaz is leaving after his best season at Anfield, in which he scored 17 goals in all competitions and filled in at center forward, Liverpool is thought to feel content with the price that it has secured for the player.
Additionally, it is understood that the Reds previously made two separate attempts to secure a contract extension with the South American winger, which failed due to a gap between offers and demands. In the end, Diaz wanted to move on.
Liverpool ended up paying around $58 million (£43 million) for Diaz once the add-ons triggered in his move from FC Porto were factored in. That means the Reds have made a tidy profit of around $30 million (£23 million).
Diaz first expressed a wish to leave last summer, but subsequently helped the Reds to win the Premier League title. Manchester City was linked with an unlikely move in 2024, but it is better for Liverpool that he will be moving abroad rather than to a domestic rival.
"In Lucho’s situation, it was, yeah," Slot admitted yesterday when he was asked if the South American had been left out of the game with AC Milan because of speculation about his future.
"There’s a lot of rumors around him lately and I cannot go into that. He’s training really well with us but we have decided for now not to play him yet.
"In Darwin Nunez's situation, he has trained also really well and played a few good games for us already this season.
"But he was injured so we didn’t take the risk. It was a little bit the same with Wataru Endo — he trained with us for the whole week but we didn’t want to take a risk with him as well.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
"That’s part of pre-season; the boys need to go towards match fitness and that’s a thin balance, thin line sometimes. In this situation we thought it was smarter for Darwin and Wata to be out today but I assume they will be there with us when we are in Japan playing the next game."
Pressed on whether he had spoken to Diaz about a potential exit to Bayern Munich, Slot added: "I’m used to talking to most of my players on a regular basis.
"Like I said, Lucho is training really well and we’ve decided that he’s not playing at the moment in the games. I cannot comment much more about that."
Liverpool confirmed the signing of Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt last week. The Reds also hold an interest in Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak.