Luis Diaz’ Liverpool debut may have only lasted for a little over half an hour against Cardiff City, but he still had time to show supporters his strengths.
Though the assist for Takumi Minamino’s goal was officially awarded to Diogo Jota, after the ball came off his foot, in truth it came about thanks to the persistence of the Reds’ latest signing.
Diaz tackled Perry Ng, dribbled past Aden Flint and pulled the ball back towards Jota.
The Portuguese forward may not have scored on that occasion but he has been speaking to Premier League Productions ( via liverpoolfc.com ) about how he can benefit from Diaz’ arrival.
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Though he too previously played for Porto, Jota had left by the time they had signed the Colombian.
However, he has been speaking to his friend Sergio Oliveira to get the lowdown on Diaz.
The midfielder has played with Jota for club and country and also lined up 88 times alongside Liverpool’s new number 23 while they were both with Porto.
“I had a chat with Sergio Oliveira, who is now in Rome, and he's saying, 'Now you're going to score even more goals because Luis is an outstanding dribbler and he will get you those chances’,” Jota side.
"He's a great player and I think he will be good in the Premier League and good for us obviously,” he added.
There’s no question mark regarding Diaz’ dribbling ability, as he has already shown. The Colombian only had time to complete two take-ons against the Bluebirds on Sunday but it was still the joint-most of any man in red across the whole match.
However, while he will undoubtedly provide chances for Jota and the rest of the Liverpool attack, he has always been more of a scorer than an assist provider.
In his league career he has netted 37 times while setting up 17 goals for others ( per FBRef ) and his ratio of shots to chances created works out at roughly 2:1 as well.
It’s also interesting to look at which players he linked up with most frequently for Porto, and the positions in which they play.
It’s not straightforward to make a comparison with Liverpool, as Diaz’ former manager Sergio Conceicao usually sets his side up in a 4-4-2 formation.
Using data from Transfermarkt, we can see the positions of the players he combined with most often in terms of assists in either direction though.
Diaz had eight joint goal contributions with Jesus Corona, seven with Mehdi Taremi and six with Otavio.
While the second of those players is a centre forward, the other two are both listed as right sided players (with the former denoted as a winger and the latter a midfielder).
We can combine all the teammates Diaz had in these two broad positions and the records are almost identical.
He either assisted or was assisted by a forward every 711 minutes, and for right-sided players that figure was 719.
Should Mohamed Salah therefore be just as excited about Diaz’ arrival as Jota? There’s certainly evidence from 2021/22 which suggests this should be the case.
The joint-third most common link up of assist provider and scorer in the Portuguese Primeira Liga this season has been Otavio to Diaz with three goals.
Indeed, in the Colombian's final game for Porto, a 3-1 win over Famalicao, that pairing linked up for a goal. It wasn’t the sort of assist you’d expect to see between a right and left winger though, as Otavio drifted infield and played a through ball to Diaz.
And their link up against Santa Clara, where the Liverpool new boy headed in a goal thanks to a cross from deep on the right flank, wasn’t standard winger-to-winger play either. But if Salah doesn’t provide that sort of delivery, Trent Alexander-Arnold absolutely will.
Diaz’ pull-back for Otavio to score against Vizela was very much like his work for Minamino’s goal against Cardiff, and when they combined against Maritimo, it was the right winger who passed across the box to his buddy from the left who was at the back post.
If Diaz and Salah are to start linking up for goals, this last example is probably the most likely way in which they will do so.
But the point is, it isn’t just Jota who should be enthused by the Colombian’s arrival at Anfield. Every attacker at the club should be.
