Tottenham Hotspur were left stunned by how quickly Liverpool managed to proceed with a deal for Luis Diaz during last January’s transfer window, according to The Athletic.
The north Londoners were keen to bring the Colombian international to the Premier League and were already in talks with Porto. They were even considered to be frontrunners to secure his signature only for Liverpool to enter the race.
It is reported that Liverpool’s sporting director Julian Ward initially did not think the 25-year-old would be available for transfer and persuaded those behind the scenes at Anfield to make their move, which left Tottenham shocked by the swiftness in completing the deal with Ward having used his contacts in Portugal to his benefit.
The Telegraph reported in January that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, was furious over the way Liverpool’s recruitment team scuppered their chances of signing Diaz and was said to have allegedly threatened to report the Reds recruitment team to principal owner John W Henry and Mike Gordon.
Diaz hit the ground running upon his move to Merseyside having scored ten goals and provided eight assists in 38 appearances in all competitions for the club (transfermarkt).
SpursWeb Opinion
Tottenham’s missed opportunity with Diaz would have left Fabio Paratici and co with egg on their faces, however, with credit to the Italian he did bounce back and secure the services of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevki, who were instrumental in last season’s top four finish.
Spurs need to understand that when it comes to trying to sign the very best players, they need to be ruthless in getting a deal done rather than trying to save a few pennies and risk other clubs stealing targets from under their noses.
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