Luis Díaz absent in Liverpool friendly against AC Milan
Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed that forward Luis Díaz did not participate in the club’s friendly defeat against AC Milan on Saturday due to speculation about his possible departure from the team this summer. According to sources close to him, the Colombian international is determined to leave Liverpool in the current transfer market and hopes that Bayern Munich will present an improved offer after rejecting an offer of 67.5 million euros. Despite being included in Liverpool’s 29-man squad for their pre-season tour of Asia, Díaz did not play in Saturday’s first match, a 4-2 defeat to Milan in Hong Kong.Slot confirmed that he has spoken with Díaz about the situation, adding: “I am used to speaking with most of my players regularly. As I said, Lucho is training very well and we have decided that he will not play in the matches for the moment. I cannot comment much more on that.” Regarding whether Díaz wants to leave Liverpool, Slot said: “That’s not the person to ask, me.” Díaz had his most prolific season with Liverpool last year, scoring 17 goals to help them win the Premier League title. However, according to a source, the 28-year-old player has made it clear to Liverpool’s directors that he wants to leave. Liverpool also rejected an offer from Barcelona earlier this summer, according to sources. Darwin Núñez, also the subject of speculation about a possible transfer this summer, did not participate in Saturday’s match either. However, Slot said that the absence of the Uruguayan striker and midfielder Wataru Endo was due to physical fitness issues.There are many rumors about him lately and I can’t get into that. He is training very well with us, but for now we have decided not to play him.
Arne Slot, Liverpool coach
Liverpool’s next match will be against Yokohama F. Marinos on Wednesday.In Darwin’s situation, he has also trained very well and has already played some good matches with us this season. But he was injured, so we didn’t want to take the risk.
Arne Slot, Liverpool coach
