Liverpool News

Why Luis Diaz will be better than Sadio Mane

The Guajiro started his first pre-season at Liverpool with the aim of making the vacant starting XI spot his.

By Charles Cornwall

The Guajiro started his first pre-season at Liverpool with the aim of making the vacant starting XI spot his.

Liverpool continue to work towards the new season which, with the reinforcements from their rivals, will be more competitive than before. During the pre-season work, the German manager Jürgen Klopp is analysing the possible game plan he will use during the next 9 or 10 months of competition and the Colombian Luis Díaz is emerging as a regular starter in the team.

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In training, El Guajiro has been one of the most active and dynamic players in the squad. Aside from the fact that his English is improving, as Spanish goalkeeper Adrián commented, Diaz has been seen working hard on his fitness, he knows perfectly well that after the departure of Senegalese Sadio Mane from the team, the position for the starting eleven is open.

Through social media, the Reeds showed a small part of Luis Diaz's pre-season work. Under an intense sun, the native of Barrancas showed that he is gradually fine-tuning his aim in front of goal, an aspect that could be useful for the new campaign that is beginning to loom.

Praise from the manager and his team-mates

Speaking to English newspaper The Athletic, Klopp said that Mane's departure was favourable in a way, as their opponents will now have more difficulty analysing the team, with a new face (Diaz) in the attacking line.

He said: "We had two, three or four years where it was always clear before pre-season that we started up front with Sadio, Bobby and Mo (Salah). Now the door is open for almost everybody. That's really great and that's what we have to use. That will make us completely difficult to analyse before the game."

Such is the extent of Luis' influence in the dressing room that they are confident he will be the perfect replacement for the Senegalese striker, if not much better. Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, one of the vertebrae of today's Liverpool, said the Colombian is destined to gain an increasingly prominent level of importance in the team:

"The team is still very strong. For a long time it was always Sadio on the left side. But we have Luis Diaz on the left wing and we saw how well he played in the second half of last season. Luis will become more and more important."

Liverpool are scheduled to play their first official game of the season against Manchester City. On Saturday 30 July at Leicester City's King Power Stadium, the two sides will meet for the Community Shield, which pits the Premier League champions against the FA Cup winners. This will be the Colombian's first test of the season. 

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