Great Business! Arne Slot breaks silence on £65.5m Luis Diaz transfer

Liverpool manager Arne Slot believes the club did a good business with the sale of Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich. The Colombia international completed a £65.5million to the Bundesliga giants.

Diaz signed a deal until 2029 at the Allianz Arena. Liverpool are expected to sign his replacement with Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak tipped to join the Reds.

Slot admitted he was disappointed to see Diaz depart, after the attacker recorded 13 goals and seven assists in the Premier League last term. The Dutchman has faith in his side’s ability to bring in new players however, and conceded sometimes exits are required to facilitate that.

Luis Diaz has resume training with FC Bayern Muenchen. (Photo by S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images)

“Luis is a player we won the league with and there’s a reason we won it with him because he’s a very good player,” said Slot. “It’s always disappointing to see someone like that leave, to a certain extent.

“But on the other hand, we’ve sold him for a lot of money and, as you probably know even better than I do, this football club brings in unbelievable signings over the years, but part of the strategy is also that once in a while we have to sell someone.

“I think we did great business by bringing in Lucho for a number of years and then selling him for a very good profit. Lucho was a player who was a joy to work with because he always had a smile on his face every single day. I will remember him as someone who was a joy to work with and a Premier League title winner.”

Slot added that he already has a number of options at his disposal to fill the gap left by Diaz. The former Feyenoord boss name-checked young star Rio Ngumoha, who has impressed in pre-season thus far, Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz as options.

“I think if players leave, whether that’s Trent (Alexander-Arnold) or Lucho, then you always need to replace them with quality,” he said. “But sometimes quality can be in different positions. We have more than a few players who can play in a number of positions.

“At this moment in time, we still have Cody Gakpo, Rio (Ngumoha) is showing very good signs, and I think Florian Wirtz can play from the left side as well. There are enough options for me to choose from. But as I always say, another thing about Liverpool is that if we see a chance in the market, we never hesitate to bring someone in. In the end, it’s about quality, and we have already made some very good signings. In terms of quality, we are already in the right place.”