Of all the problems that circled Liverpool last season, the absence of Luis Diaz was one of the most prominent.
The Colombia international was one of few in the Reds’ squad whose level didn’t dip during the early weeks of the 2022/23 campaign as the team struggled to shake off the cobwebs of the 63-game season previous.
Diaz was one of the rare bright spots for Jurgen Klopp 12 months ago as his side lurched their way through the early going. That was until a knee injury suffered in a challenge with Arsenal’s Thomas Partey wrecked his campaign.
Initially pulling up in a 3-2 defeat to the Gunners on October 9, Diaz was on the cusp of a comeback in December when he broke down once more on the club’s mid-season trip to Dubai during the World Cup.
That setback required surgery and involved an immediate flight back to Merseyside to go under the knife before he was made to wait until April for his eventual return.
“It was a difficult and complicated time for me,” he admits, in a chat with club’s official match-day programme. “Not being able to be there at every game with the team is very frustrating.
“To see all your team-mates playing and you cannot be there alongside them is just so tough to take. That period was really hard for me, but I tried hard not to overthink things or pay much attention to negative things so my head wouldn’t be swimming with all these thoughts.
“It was all about work, work and more work so I could be fully fit and recovered; so once I was 100% again, I’d be ready to try and help the team.”
After eventually stepping on to the pitch once more when he arrived as a second-half substitute in a 6-1 demolition of Leeds United on April 17 before he scored in a pulsating victory over Tottenham at the end of that month.
There was little pressure on Diaz upon his comeback though, with it being generally accepted that the former Porto might not be at his blistering best until this season having felt the benefit of a full pre-season free of injury.
And with two goals already this term, against Chelsea and Bournemouth, the £37m signing is starting to finally feel more like the player that convinced Klopp to bring him to Anfield from Porto in January 2022.
“I’m feeling more and more confident as each day goes by and with every training session,” he adds. “Scoring nice goals has a lot to do with having worked so hard to make sure I was in the right shape and, to be honest, I feel great – at 100% and convinced that this season I’m going to do lots to make the fans very happy.
“I have no doubt about that whatsoever. I’m going to try to always be in top form because my game is all about…well, I’m always looking to do stuff like scoring and creating goals and feeling happy and content when I’m playing my football. I know this is going to be a decent year.”
Diaz is part of a varied and powerful frontline at Anfield. Alongside Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota, Klopp has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal who have been responsible for six of Liverpool’s eight goals this – and 25 of the team’s last 34 since Diaz returned from injury.
With three of those to Diaz’s name, the wideman continues to work on adding facets to his game in Klopp’s system that will only make the current crop of attackers more feared.
He adds: “I’d say that since being here I’ve gained in intensity and have a bit more aggression about me. Maybe I was developing those things at Porto already because I learned an awful lot in those aspects there too. When you come over to Europe, you work a lot more on those facets of your game, being aggressive.
“I learnt a lot about decision-making too and being more relaxed when a chance comes around. I think I’ve grown both in football terms and on a personal level, and all that makes me very happy.”
