Liverpool handed£50m transfer boost after ambitious Rafa Benitez and James Rodriguez plan

 

In a different life, Luis Diaz could very well be lining up at Anfield this weekend as an Everton player.

As time ticked away for Rafa Benitez during his only transfer window as Everton manager, the prospect of signing Diaz was explored at Goodison Park.

With Benitez keen to shift the high-earning James Rodriguez off the wage bill, a swap deal that would also see the Blues pay £21m to Porto for Diaz was reported in late August.

Porto, despite being in need of a cash injection due to financial problems, likely felt Diaz to be worth more, even with the bargaining chip of Rodriguez, a player who rose to prominence in European football during a three-year spell at Estadio do Dragao between 2010 and '13.

Benitez's ambitious transfer plans would eventually fall through with Rodriguez instead heading off to Al-Rayyan in Qatar on a free transfer. For Diaz, he would remain with Porto, furthering his reputation in the European game having come from the Copa America just a few weeks earlier for Colombia where he finished as joint top scorer alongside a certain Lionel Messi of Argentina.

Sixteen goals and a half-dozen assists in 28 appearances later for Porto and Liverpool's hand had been forced after Tottenham made their interest known towards the end of the January transfer window.

Anfield sources had initially indicated that Diaz was not a target for January, as they eyed a summer agreement instead, but the best-laid plans were forced into acceleration when Spurs made their own move in the final week of the window.

Porto were distraught to be losing their star man at such a key juncture of the season. "All I can say is that the manager is strongly opposed to losing the player," said one well-placed source at the time. "Luis is the cornerstone of the title bid and Europa League final objective."

But once it became clear that Liverpool were also rivalling Spurs for Diaz's signature, there was only ever going to be one winner, with the Reds indebted to the wise words of the attacker's representatives in ensuring Anfield was his next destination.

The Colombian-based agent, Carlos van Strahalen, and Raul Pais Da Costa, an intermediary who works in Portugal, were understood to have played a vital role in ensuring it was Liverpool's iconic emblem on the five-and-a-half-year contract that Diaz eventually signed, with Kiko Espinar, who heads up the scouting regions of Spain and Portugal, also known to have had an important part.

"Liverpool were one of the teams who right from the start really persisted in trying to sign me, much more than anyone else," Diaz says on the eve of the 240th Merseyside derby. "Of course, it's obvious just what a great institution this club is and how much quality it has too. So I always tried to come and sign for this club."

Liverpool's soon-to-be sporting director, Julian Ward, whose contacts in South American and Portuguese football are extensive, took a more hands-on approach to the Diaz deal as he continued his soft launch into the permanent role following the impending summer exit of current chief Michael Edwards.

For Ward, it is a big feather in the cap that he was able to pull off the move for Diaz in such a short space of time, particularly with a club like Tottenham also circling.