Arne Slot has offered a new update on the future of Liverpool winger Luis Diaz amid mounting transfer speculation concerning the Colombian.
Diaz has become a popular figure at Anfield since joining from Portuguese side Porto for £37million in January 2022, scoring 24 goals and registering 13 assists in 94 appearances across all competitions to date.
However, the 27-year-old’s future on Merseyside had recently become subject to doubt, with Barcelona heavily linked with a player who still has three years left to run on his current Liverpool deal.
There were even reports from Spain earlier this week that Manchester City had agreed a shock five-year deal with Diaz and would pay Premier League title rivals Liverpool a fee in the region of £60m for his services.
However, such rumours were quickly dismissed and new Liverpool boss Slot has insisted on the eve of the new Premier League season that the player is going nowhere.
“When I walked in here, there was a screen from Sky Sports and I said, 'The whole day it's talking about football?' So, there is a lot of speculation constantly in this country, that is clear for me,” the Dutchman told reporters ahead of his first competitive match in charge against newly-promoted Ipswich on Saturday.
“So it’s not a surprise if I hear you saying there is also [that about] Luis Diaz. Is there any player they don't talk about? A few, OK! His future is with us because I like a lot what I've seen in the last 10 days that he's in and I saw the same last season.
“He's had a big impact on Liverpool seasons and I'm hoping that he has a big impact in the upcoming season as well.”
However, Slot would not be drawn on the current contract situations of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, all of whom are currently set to become free agents next summer.
“I don't think this is the place to talk about contracts but I can assure you they are in the squad tomorrow,” he said.
The issue of Alexander-Arnold’s best position was unsurprisingly also a hot topic ahead of Liverpool’s lunchtime season opener at Portman Road, particularly following England’s initial midfield experiment at Euro 2024 earlier this summer.
“I think a position for a player is always related to the team and it's also my aim to bring the best out of the player,” Slot said. “But the first aim is to bring the best out of the team and it helps if you also bring the best out of a player then.
“Trent is known for playing as a right full-back for all his life, I think, and when he was a youngster he played in midfield. In the modern game, you see a lot of full-backs going into the midfield – that is what he did last season once in a while and I saw him playing in the Euros [in] the midfield.
“So, I think he is capable of playing both positions really good and then it's up to me where I think he could help the team the most.”
On how to get the best out of striker Darwin Nunez, Slot added: “Bring him as much as we can into scoring positions. Again, I think every individual benefits from team performance.
“If we, as a team, can bring our attackers – not only him but also the other ones – as much as we can in dangerous positions, these players will score goals.
“That's what we've seen in pre-season, where we even scored goals out of smaller chances. It's up to us to bring him or Diogo [Jota] or other attackers as much as we can into promising positions for them and then he, like all the others, will score their goals.”
