Liverpool pulled a fast one on Spurs last January when they stole Luis Diaz from under their noses.
Tottenham were all in for the Colombian and even had their £45m bid accepted by Porto. It was all about convincing Luis Diaz, but a last-minute Zoom call changed everything.
Jürgen Klopp’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders details it all in his new book, ‘Intensity: Inside Liverpool FC – Our Identity’ (Express):
“I was on a skiing trip with my wife Danielle when, during dinner, our sporting director called me: ‘You and Jurgen have to speak with Luis Diaz in five minutes. We’ve just agreed with Porto but Tottenham are all-in as well.’
“I joined the call and Jurgen was explaining to Luis how he would fit into our style and that we would help him. He said in reference to me joining (the call) ‘but you will hear this guy much more often!’ to which I immediately said ‘but I will explain things more calmly than Sergio (Conceicao, the Porto manager)!’, to which Luis laughed.
“I told him: ‘We want you desperately and have been pushing for the last one-and-a-half months with our owners and our sporting director, but you know that these kinds of transfers are not easy to accomplish. The good thing is you will train with Virgil, Robbo and Trent and they will make you so much stronger. Our idea is to create and score; you will have to tear these guys apart each day in training, which will make you better’.
“His agent translated Jurgen’s message and Julian Ward said ‘these two will make you a better player’. I told him there were not many clubs with more history and culture than Porto but Liverpool was one of them and he would feel this. Julian then walked with his phone to the trophy cabinet at AXA and finished with ‘we want to add to this and that’s why we want you’.
“If the boy wasn’t convinced, he would be now.”
Tottenham had come awfully close to signing Luis Diaz who turned out to be a great signing for Liverpool but it didn’t end up that bad for Spurs either. After missing out on the Colombian, Antonio Conte signed Dejan Kulusevski on an 18-month loan and he turned out to be an exceptional signing as well. He settled in with the team immediately scoring 5 and assisting 8 goals in 18 games playing a vital role in helping Spurs qualify for the Champions League.