Luis Diaz's league-leading talent can give Darwin…

Luis Diaz's league-leading talent can give Darwin Nunez Liverpool springboard

Over the 18 months they were both plying their trade in the Primeira Liga, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez were on opposite sides of a fractious divide. But then Liverpool took them from Porto and Benfica respectively, in the hope of uniting the best player from each of Portugal’s two most successful clubs in a devastating new look attack.

They have had very little time to forge a relationship in the Reds’ opening three friendlies of the summer. While both have featured in each match, they were not on the pitch together for the games with Manchester United and Crystal Palace.

Even when they did line up alongside each other, against RB Leipzig, they were granted just 15 minutes in which to make an impression. While they didn’t combine for anything of note, there were hints – particularly from Diaz – of what may lie ahead.

The Colombian indirectly created the first goal Nunez scored in the famous red shirt. Diaz was brought down by the hapless Janis Blaswich to earn the penalty kick from which Liverpool’s new frontman opened his account for the club.

There was another brief passage of play which is more likely to be repeated in 2022/23. Diaz received a pass near the half way line and left touchline and sprinted forward to launch a counter attack. He drove towards the centre of the field then sent a pass in Nunez’s direction.

The former Benfica man had pulled out to the left but unfortunately the ball clipped his foot and bounced back to Diaz. The intent was clear, though. While nothing significant came from him carrying the ball into a dangerous area, a recent article on The Analyst has highlighted that Liverpool’s number 23 can be expected to deliver this style of incisiveness time and again this season.

Opta define ‘carries’ as where a player moves the ball five metres or more at their feet. With attacking players we’re interested in how often they complete a carry which results in them taking a shot or creating a chance for a colleague.

A remarkable statistic highlights how Diaz had outgrown Portuguese football with regards to this attribute. He was involved in 46 shots following ball carries in the Primeira Liga, which led the standings for the season even though he played his last game in the competition in the penultimate week of January.

The map of his productive carries with both Porto and Liverpool is interesting as there wasn’t one similar in location to the effort he made against Leipzig. Most likely it was borne out of the circumstances in which he and his colleagues found themselves in that moment, but it will be interesting to monitor if his dribbling changes as the Reds’ attack evolves.

Diaz's efforts have already led to three league goals, two for himself (against Norwich and Tottenham) and an assist for Sadio Mane against Manchester United. Only Mohamed Salah, with 10, and Andy Robertson (four) were involved in more league goals following carries for Liverpool across the whole campaign.

And though Diaz’s rate for chance creating carries dropped a touch in the higher standard Premier League, not by much at all – he went from one every 33 minutes in Portugal to one every 37 in England. Allan Saint-Maximin topped the Premier League standings for this stat with 68 in total, completing one every 41 minutes he played.

Despite only appearing for 960 minutes (less than 11 full games), Diaz still found time to finish joint-37^th in the chart. With Saint-Maximin for context, there’s reason to believe the Liverpool winger can lead the way in 2022/23. The tantalising glimpse offered against Leipzig suggested Nunez could be the main beneficiary of his brilliance.

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