Liverpool finally have the last laugh after selling the best player in the world

Analysis

Tom Weber | Writer

Liverpool were left to rue their decision to sell Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich last season, but the situation looks radically different now.

Having been a fairly inconsistent performer for the Reds, the Colombian superstar enjoyed a career revival in Arne Slot's first season in charge. Diaz bagged 17 goals and eight assists across all competitions as Liverpool stormed to the Premier League title.

The reaction to his sale in 2025 was therefore mixed. On the face of it, getting €70 million for a 28-year-old seemed like brilliant business. It did, however, leave Liverpool short of left-wing options.

The club wanted to put their faith in wonderkid Rio Ngumoha, but Slot seemingly did not yet fully trust the teenager to be able to perform consistently. This meant that, for most of last season, Cody Gakpo started on the left wing - and he struggled.

The contrast with Diaz couldn't have been starker. While the left flank was a problem position for Liverpool, the Colombian was nothing short of sensational for Bayern, scoring 26 goals and providing 23 assists in 51 appearances.

Diaz struggling to recapture his form

According to data analytics firm SciSports, the underlying numbers suggested that Diaz developed into the best player in the world last season, and Liverpool were certainly made to pay for selling him.

However, it now looks as though Liverpool may have cashed in at the right time. That's because Diaz has been a shadow of his former self in the early stages of this season, to the point where he is starting to give Vincent Kompany headaches.

Diaz's decline hasn't come out of the blue, however. There was already a minor drop-off in his effectiveness towards the end of last season, and he was one of the more disappointing performers at the World Cup.

Fatigue, both mental and physical, seems to have set in following Bayern's elimination from the Champions League at the semi-final stage last term, and it carried over into the World Cup, when he carried the expectations of a nation on his shoulders.

There were high hopes for Colombia heading into the tournament. With a strong defence and midfield, and Diaz as their superstar attacker, the team's only evident shortcoming was their lack of a clinical centre-forward, making them a genuine dark horse for the title.

Ultimately, exactly the lack of a finisher proved to be their undoing. Colombia played great football and were defensively solid, but they just could not convert their chances. Diaz, in particular, was guilty of lacking a clinical edge and failing to rise to the occasion.

It ended up being a disappointing tournament, and it seems that Diaz hasn't recovered from it. In the early stages of this new campaign, he has been a borderline liability for Bayern.

He has played all but 10 of the minutes on offer so far, yet he has only contributed one goal - the fifth in a 5-1 beatdown of Stuttgart on opening day, where he converted a 1v1 with the keeper under no pressure.

Against Schalke at the weekend, he was genuinely terrible. It was borderline negligent of Kompany to keep the winger on for the full 90 - and he paid for it by dropping points against the newly promoted side.

It feels bizarre to say, but had Diaz not been on the pitch, Bayern might actually have won that match. His head just has not been in the game so far this season. It's not just his attacking output; his first touch and passing have also been off.

Clearly, Diaz needs a proper rest after his short pre-season. Bayern certainly have the options to rotate their team more, but the Colombian's early form should nevertheless be a major worry. After all, they didn't spend €70m to get just one good season out of him.