Liverpool are closing in on the signing of electric Porto winger Luis Diaz as the end of the January transfer window draws nearer.
After months of pressure from pleading supporters to splash the cash, Jurgen Klopp is set to be gifted with a new forward for a cool £50million.
The Reds appear to have hijacked Tottenham Hotspur's attempts to sign the sought-after 25-year-old, who boasts and incredible 14 goals and five assists from 18 league games to help his side sit top of Portuguese table.
And his season has been elevated by two efforts in the Champions League, convincing Anfield chiefs to cough up their biggest fee for two-and-a-half years.
Liverpool are expected to pay Porto an initial £37.5m before a further £12.5m in performance-related add-ons, with a medical pencilled in this weekend.
So, who is Diaz and what can be bring to Merseyside?
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First of all, the Colombian is a goalscoring winger, just like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota, with his 5ft 10in stature similar to the trio.
Diaz notably finished joint-top of the scoring charts with four goals at last summer's Copa America alongside none other than Argentina hero Lionel Messi, who lifted the trophy.
His spectacular 25-yard strike in the 94th minute against Peru gave his country victory in the third place play-off, cementing his spot as one of European football's hottest properties.
That was off the back of the campaign in which the Barrancas-born hotshot netted just six in 30 Primeira Liga matches, while again registering five assists.
This term, Diaz has reached another level and persuaded the Reds' scouting team to green-light a move, having watched him five times in recent months to ensure he fits with Klopp's high-octane style of play.
And Liverpool rather unwittingly managed to drive Porto's asking price down when the two teams met in the Champions League group stage.
They picked up all six points and sent the Portuguese giants into the Europa League, rendering them strapped for cash and unable to hold out for his £67m release clause.
Despite Porto losing 2-0 in their second meeting at Anfield, Diaz caused the Reds' back line problems all night; firing off one shot, producing two key passes and completing three dribbles.
But what Klopp may have been most impressed with was his ball recoveries, regaining possession on five occasions for the Dragons, who lost the reverse match 5-1 at the Estadio do Dragao.
Unlike the 31-capped Colombia international, Salah and Mane did not manage the full 90 minutes in a sign of things to come at Anfield.
The pair remain unavailable for their club due to international commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations, leaving Liverpool light in attack and heavily reliant upon Jota - another ex-Porto wide man.
But Diaz's addition will soon remedy that issue and he could even make his debut before either of them return from Cameroon, with both Egypt and Senegal in the quarter-finals.
The lightning quick winger already has admirers in the Anfield dressing room, with goalkeeper and fellow South American Alisson Becker praising him ahead of Brazil 's clash with Colombia in November.
"Luis Diaz is an excellent player, he does a lot of work for the defence, he did it in the goals of Copa America," Alisson stated.
"In Porto he comes with good performances, and here our task is to see Colombia as a whole and to worry about how we should destroy it."
Porto captain and ex- Real Madrid centre-back Pepe is also a big fan and said: "It is the professionalism and passion of representing this club.
"We know the importance of wearing this shirt. It is a pride to have players like him."
But in one of the most sensational claims about Diaz, Portuguese publication A Bola recently waxed lyrical.
"In the field, he has been an indomitable dragon, capable of taking the team without help to incredible heights," the outlet wrote.
"The price rises week by week and the sharks of England no longer just salivate with what they observe in the field.
"He is an ace that seems to literally live on a separate planet."
The signing is being viewed as Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards' leaving present, having been significantly supported in negotiations by assistant Julian Ward, according to The Times.
Goal add that a delegation is en route from Anfield to meet Diaz in Argentina for medical checks, as Colombia face Messi and co in a qualifier there next Tuesday.
If the Reds can maintain their typically swift negotiations skills and wrap up the deal before deadline day, that "separate planet" will be Anfield.
