Liverpool ‘close’ to Luis Diaz sale as Arne Slot confirms decision

Liverpool and Bayern Munich are close to reaching an agreement for Luis Diaz, according to a report.

The Colombia international has been all smiles for the Reds in pre-season so far, but behind the scenes, Diaz is understood to be pushing for a transfer away.

Bayern Munich are offering a lucrative four-year contract, which Diaz, at the age of 28, feels is too good an opportunity to pass up, especially since Liverpool have dragged their feet in handing him improved terms despite his importance.

Publicly, Liverpool have insisted that the winger is not for sale, but it is clear that this is not quite the truth, with the Reds ready to sell at the right price. Bayern had an initial bid worth €67.5 million knocked back, but formal talks were reopened on Friday.

Then, earlier on Saturday, Reds boss Arne Slot omitted Diaz from a pre-season clash with AC Milan in Hong Kong, citing the speculation surrounding his future as the reason behind his decision.

Liverpool to sell Diaz

According to Foot Mercato, Diaz was snubbed because a transfer to Bayern is increasingly taking shape, with the Munich outfit confident of striking a deal in the region of €75 million.

This is below Liverpool’s initial valuation, but the Bundesliga champions have been clear with their Premier League counterparts that they won’t pay more than €80m for the 28-year-old.

Liverpool are unlikely to be in a position to dig their heels in considering that they themselves want to bring in more players and need funds to avoid future breaches of financial regulations.

The Reds have already spent over €300 million and are still looking to add a centre-back, while there is also the situation of Alexander Isak to keep an eye on. In addition to Diaz, Darwin Nunez was also omitted from Liverpool’s squad. He is fielding interest from Al-Hilal.

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