49erssports.com - Barcelona almost brought in Luis Diaz. However, Barcelona president Joan Laporta later revealed the failure to sign him was due to economic problems at the club and Liverpool.
Diaz became a new Liverpool player in the winter of 2022. The 25-year-old player was brought in from Porto with a dowry of up to 47 million Euros.
Since then, Diaz has made 38 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions. The Colombian national team player has also scored ten goals and eight assists.
For a winger in a team of the caliber of The Reds, Diaz's score is not special. It's just that Diaz's explosive and unpredictable appearance has made fans amazed at him.
Almost recruited by Barcelona
If only all went well, Diaz's explosive and full of surprises appearance would be a spectacle for Barcelona fans. Laporta admits that he almost signed the player.
"We were always interested in him. We even had time to consider actually bringing him in,” he said as quoted by GOAL.
The desire to buy new players was eventually defeated by the existing reality. There were two realities facing Barcelona at that time.
First Factor: Economy
Barcelona has never denied having had financial problems. A team as big as the Blaugrana is not free to carry out activities in the player market.
Laporta explained that the economic problems that hit Barcelona had prevented Diaz from being transported.
“I remember when we were in a difficult economic situation. Our focus at that time was to get over it first,” he said.
Second Factor: Liverpool
Discussion efforts with player representatives that have been carried out have been in vain. Barcelona could not carry out the stages of negotiations because of a stagnation in economic problems.
At that crucial moment, Liverpool came. Laporta explained that at that time, Liverpool were superior to Barcelona so they were easily overtaken.
"We have had time to talk with representatives, but it turns out that Liverpool have carried out negotiations that have gone too far," he explained.
“So at that time when we wanted to land him here, Liverpool beat us. They are in front of us," he concluded.