Luis Diaz is expected to remain at Anfield past the end of the summer transfer window after Barcelona reportedly struck up a deal to sign Euro 2024 winner Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig.
The Spanish attacker looks all but set to move back to his homeland following reports that the Catalan club have reached an agreement with the German outfit over a $68million (£53m/€62m) transfer, having identified him as a much cheaper and realistic alternative to La Roja teammate and Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams.
But Barca had also been credited with an interest in signing Diaz this summer, with initial reports claiming that former Nou Camp icon Deco, who is at the club in a directorial capacity, viewed the Liverpool man as the top option to strengthen Hansi Flick's attack.
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Paris Saint-Germain had also been credited with an interest in the former Porto star, but it was the La Liga giants who seemed most likely to push for a transfer. Due to Barca's recent financial troubles, however, it was unclear as to how it would be able to stump up the funds for Diaz, although selling Raphinha to generate much of the required transfer kitty became one viable option.
While the Colombian was away on international duty with his country at the 2024 Copa America , Barcelona president Joan Laporta dropped the biggest hint yet that Barcelona could scrape together the funds for Diaz by claiming that the club could "economically commit to the signing of Nico Williams," who has a release clause standing at $62m (£49m/€58m).
With Laporta confident that Barcelona could find those sorts of funds, and pay it up-front in order to trigger the clause, there became the belief that money is there to be spent. While Liverpool had not been actively marketing Diaz and the player himself has declared that he is content at Anfield , a move has not been out of the question.
However, now a deal has been struck for Olmo to head to the Camp Nou this summer, with Deco offering the 26-year-old a six-year deal, fears of Diaz departing for Barcelona are all but over.
It's now believed that a financial package of $60m (£47m/€55m) and $8m (£6m/€7m) in add-ons is currently laid on the table for the Leipzig star, who has 29 goals and 34 assists in 148 games for the Bundesliga side, as well as three goals and two assists to help Spain lift the Euro 2024 trophy last month.
While there have been questions raised over Diaz's overall output in a Liverpool shirt, the majority will be happy that he'll be remaining at Liverpool - for now. The Colombian registered 13 goals and five assists in all competitions last season and is expected to play a major role under new boss Arne Slot during his first campaign.
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