Could Liverpool fans be put through the wringer regarding yet another contractual saga at Anfield?
A glorious 2024/25 season on the pitch was played out amid a long-running backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the futures of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold as they all teetered on the brink of seeing their contracts expire this summer.
Mercifully the Egyptian winger and Dutch centre-back penned new two-year deals in April, but one of their teammates now finds himself at the epicentre of speculation regarding how much longer he’ll remain on Merseyside.
Luis Diaz still has two years remaining on his current terms at Liverpool, but The Athletic‘s David Ornstein indicated last week that there’s currently ‘little expectation of a fresh agreement’ being struck before June 2027.
The Colombian is also reportedly being eyed by Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr for a potential £72m transfer offer, despite Anfield chiefs telling Barcelona that they’ve no plans to sell the 28-year-old.
Liverpool seemingly hesitant to offer Diaz a new deal
Liverpool Echo journalist Ian Doyle touched upon the Colombian’s contract situation on the latest episode of the Blood Red podcast, and his information didn’t exactly scream that a renewal could be imminent.
He said: “Diaz as well, I’m not sure whether they are massively keen to give him a new contract. I don’t know.
“They’re not pushing to do it. Not that they won’t do it, but he’s got two years left, and because he’s 28, it looks like, ‘well, we’ll just see how things go’. Whether that involves Saudi Arabia coming in with a bid for £85m, then you go, hmm…”
Surprising that Liverpool seem so unsure about keeping Diaz long-term
With Diaz still having two years to run on his current deal, we’d like to think that there’s still plenty of time for him and the Liverpool hierarchy to work towards striking an agreement, especially if he replicates the impact that he had during the 2024/25 season, in which he was the Reds’ third-highest scorer with 17 goals.
It’d be different if he only had 12 months remaining on his contract, in which case FSG would be justified in accepting any prospective big-money offers from overseas so that the nightmare scenario of losing him on a free transfer would be avoided.
The Colombian is still only 28 and has been producing the goods on the pitch, so it seems peculiar that Anfield chiefs are apparently hesitant about trying to tie him down to a new deal, unless there’s a strong sense internally that he could be eyeing a move elsewhere in the next year or two.
It hasn’t helped that the player recently declared that his agent is speaking to other clubs during the transfer window, while also appearing to try and put the onus on LFC to offer him satisfactory terms.
Admittedly a bid of £70m or more for Diaz this summer could be difficult for Liverpool to turn down, but that’d present a different challenge in terms of recruiting a positional alternative of similar or superior quality who’d be a suitable fit for Arne Slot’s team.
It’s a tricky dilemma for FSG to ponder, and maybe that’s why they’re not rushing into talks with the Reds’ number 7 over a prospective contract extension. Hopefully a resolution can be found sooner rather than later or, failing that, LFC receive a fair price for the forward if they decide to cash in on him.
