In a different life, Luis Diaz could very well be lining up at Anfield this weekend as an Everton player.
As time ticked away for Rafa Benitez during his only transfer window as Everton manager, the prospect of signing Diaz was explored at Goodison Park.
With Benitez keen to shift the high-earning James Rodriguez off the wage bill, a swap deal that would also see the Blues pay £21m to Porto for Diaz was reported in late August.
Porto, despite being in need of a cash injection due to financial problems, likely felt Diaz to be worth more, even with the bargaining chip of Rodriguez, a player who rose to prominence in European football during a three-year spell at Estadio do Dragao between 2010 and '13.
Benitez's ambitious transfer plans would eventually fall through with Rodriguez instead heading off to Al-Rayyan in Qatar on a free transfer. For Diaz, he would remain with Porto, furthering his reputation in the European game having come from the Copa America just a few weeks earlier for Colombia where he finished as joint top scorer alongside a certain Lionel Messi of Argentina.
Sixteen goals and a half-dozen assists in 28 appearances later for Porto and Liverpool's hand had been forced after Tottenham made their interest known towards the end of the January transfer window.
Anfield sources had initially indicated that Diaz was not a target for January, as they eyed a summer agreement instead, but the best-laid plans were forced into acceleration when Spurs made their own move in the final week of the window.
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Porto were distraught to be losing their star man at such a key juncture of the season. "All I can say is that the manager is strongly opposed to losing the player," said one well-placed source at the time. "Luis is the cornerstone of the title bid and Europa League final objective."
But once it became clear that Liverpool were also rivalling Spurs for Diaz's signature, there was only ever going to be one winner, with the Reds indebted to the wise words of the attacker's representatives in ensuring Anfield was his next destination.
The Colombian-based agent, Carlos van Strahalen, and Raul Pais Da Costa, an intermediary who works in Portugal, were understood to have played a vital role in ensuring it was Liverpool's iconic emblem on the five-and-a-half-year contract that Diaz eventually signed, with Kiko Espinar, who heads up the scouting regions of Spain and Portugal, also known to have had an important part.
"Liverpool were one of the teams who right from the start really persisted in trying to sign me, much more than anyone else," Diaz says on the eve of the 240th Merseyside derby. "Of course, it's obvious just what a great institution this club is and how much quality it has too. So I always tried to come and sign for this club."
Liverpool's soon-to-be sporting director, Julian Ward, whose contacts in South American and Portuguese football are extensive, took a more hands-on approach to the Diaz deal as he continued his soft launch into the permanent role following the impending summer exit of current chief Michael Edwards.
For Ward, it is a big feather in the cap that he was able to pull off the move for Diaz in such a short space of time, particularly with a club like Tottenham also circling.
Multiple sources, however, have stressed how the completion of the January deal was the culmination of a team effort that also involved club doctor, Jim Moxon, David Woodfine, the head of loan pathways - who both flew to Argentina to conduct a medical - and Gonzalo Siegrist, Liverpool's Buenos Aires-based scout, who arranged the specifics of the medical after an agreement with the Colombian national team.
A deal worth an initial £37m was struck, with sources indicating that the Colombian winger would be a "huge success" at Anfield if Liverpool were to eventually hand over the full add-ons of £13m. But three months into his time on Merseyside, that is perhaps not looking too far-fetched, whatever the specifics of the terms.
Having already collected a Carabao Cup winners' medal inside his first month as a Reds player, the 25-year-old has helped power the charge on three other fronts since and with an FA Cup final against Chelsea to come after a two-legged Champions League semi with Villarreal - all while the battle at the top of the Premier League with Manchester City goes on - things have rarely looked this promising, even at a club the size of Liverpool.
Four goals in 17 appearances so far does scant justice to his impressive adaptation process at Anfield and the tireless work ethic Diaz marries to his silky dribbling and unselfish approach play have enabled him to hit the ground running for a manager who prizes off-the-ball effort as much as any quality in possession.
"The manager? Incredible!" Diaz says of Klopp in Liverpool's most recent match-day programme. "That's a single word you can use for him from the short time we've spent working together. He's a very humble, down-to-earth person, very calm. He tries to ensure all his players are happy, and for me that's very important.
"He wanted me to know that I'd been performing very well up to now and that I should just try to keep on doing more of the same. To play my football with joy and happiness while obviously incorporating the preferred tactical plans and instructions into my game."
Far from being the medium-to-long-term replacement for Sadio Mane on the left of Liverpool's front three, Diaz can rightly consider himself a first-team star now, having started 11 already, including an FA Cup semi and Carabao Cup final. His arrival has also played a part in Mane breathing fresh life into his own Anfield tenure down the centre of Klopp's attack.
Diaz says: "I've settled in quickly on the field and to top it all off we've managed to win a trophy in that time as well. It's been a satisfactory start which I'm very, very pleased about, but keeping it going is the key now.
"I reckon that the thing you can notice and see the most is the intensity of the game here. Tactically how we set up and the fact that I also have to defend might well be the most difficult thing so far.
"I do have that aspect to my game though, as I spent time playing at Porto and I think I managed to pick up and learn a lot there. But I will keep on improving here as well, for sure.
"But I am happy and delighted to be here at the club and to have settled in the way that I have. Sharing a dressing room with this group of great athletes as well as the manager...well it's an absolute pleasure for me."
