Mark Lawrenson has praised new Liverpool signing Luis Diaz and compared him to former Red Philippe Coutinho in terms of style of play.
Liverpool have not achieved massive success in the previous decade until the arrival of Jurgen Klopp. But they have always had players that excited the Anfield audience and put in some scintillating performances in the famous Red shirt. Notable names such as Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres, among others, were leading lights for the club even though they went without any major trophies.
Another name was Philippe Coutinho, a fan favourite at Anfield, who came close to winning the Premier League title under Brendan Rodgers. He departed in controversial circumstances in 2018 just before Liverpool’s successful period under Klopp began. He has since had a terrible few years at Barcelona before returning to England in January with Aston Villa.
While players like Coutinho’s quality come once in a while, Liverpool seem to have finally replaced the Brazilian with their newest signing. January arrival, Luis Diaz, had been performing superbly this season with 16 goals for Porto and has been backed to succeed at Merseyside.
Making his debut for Liverpool in their FA Cup win over Cardiff City on Sunday, the Colombian international already notched up an assist during a lively cameo appearance and bigger things are expected from the attacker at Anfield.
Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson praised the new arrival after his debut performance and compared him to former star Coutinho.
Speaking on LFC TV, as quoted by Liverpool Echo, the Reds’ great said, “I saw him in the second leg here at Anfield and he posed lots of problems. Right-footed comes in from the left, a bit like Coutinho used to do to score his goals all that way, but also that would mean for me that he could play on the right.
“Obviously, in terms of pressure on the normal front three for places, he’s just a really good signing and I like the way the club went about the business. It was hardly mentioned and all of a sudden it was done which is always very good. A pure footballer but also can go past people.”
While Diaz showed great output at Porto, the Anfield faithful will hope he continues his terrific displays for the rest of the season. It will take some time for him to become a cult hero like Coutinho, but the Colombian certainly has the capacity to grow into a top star in the coming years.
