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But a cursory glance online this week might have saved Barcelona sporting director Deco a phone call.

The Reds, as reported on these pages on Wednesday, are in no mood to sell Luis Diaz this summer, viewing him as an integral part of a squad that not only won the Premier League, but sauntered to it by 10 points, having failed to win any of their last four matches as champions.

Diaz's 13 goals - 17 in all competitions - were an important part of that success and having adapted to the role of centre-forward in the absence of Diogo Jota at times, the left-winger showcased his versatility and quality in abundance under Arne Slot.



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At a time when the club are working on a history-making deal to secure Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, there is little appetite to lose players who are still seen as having a long-term future at Anfield.

Rebuilding from a position of strength is the general mantra and while there are players who will be deemed as surplus to requirements, Diaz is not seen in that bracket.

So the response to Barcelona, who approached Liverpool shortly after news broke of the club's hardline stance this week, was unequivocal: the Colombian is not for sale.

There is also some private puzzlement behind the scenes about Barca's ability to raise the capital needed to sign Diaz, even if the Reds are open to offers for a player who has two years left on his Anfield contract.

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The player himself has reiterated his happiness in recent weeks, telling Telemundo about his hopes to sit down and discuss a new contract before expressing his contentment to official club channels after lifting the Premier League title.

There are some at Liverpool who also view Al-Hilal's failed pursuit of Bruno Fernandes as almost setting the going rate where Diaz is concerned this summer.

The Saudi Pro League club wanted to bring the Manchester United star to the Middle East for £100m only for the Portugal international to publicly shun their advances earlier this week.

The fee for a player two years Diaz's senior, for a club who have just endured their most miserable in decades, has, perhaps inadvertently, steeled the Reds' resolve when it comes to their No.7.

Al-Nassr, of the Saudi Pro League, are casting admiring glances Diaz's way.

It's unknown if the Saudi club have held any sort of tentative discussions with Raul Pais da Costa or Carlos Van Strahalen, the player's representatives, but the Saudi Pro League side are owned, like Al-Hilal, by the nation's Public Investment Fund.

So it seems that the market value for Diaz has been set then and while there may be one or two eyebrows raised at that remarkable figure, Liverpool will have reached that valuation in the same way they have tended to with others in recent years.

The £22m fee they were able to extract for Sepp van den Berg from Brentford last summer, for example, might have seemed on the high side for someone with just four senior appearances in five years at Anfield, all in 2019/20.

Van den Berg, meanwhile, had played close to 150 across the Eredivisie, the Bundesliga and the Championship.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis's£20m switch from Manchester City to Southampton, meanwhile, also helped the Reds reach a price for their young Dutch defender.

Anfield officials argued Van den Berg's experience level, compared to other defenders around the same age who moved that summer, coupled with his potential ceiling made him a centre-half worth in excess of £20m.

It was a stance that eventually paid off, quite literally.

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That Liverpool were able to fetch £23million for Rhian Brewster from Sheffield United, despite the striker never having started a Premier League game for Jurgen Klopp's side, also piqued interest in October 2020.

The Reds assessed comparative market trends and after 11 goals in 22 games on loan at Swansea City in the Championship, Brewster's value was determined to be in line with the £28m that took the Championship's top scorer, Ollie Watkins, from Brentford to Aston Villa that same summer.

And while there is no hard-and-fast price tag being slapped on Diaz in the same way, the reports around what Saudi clubs were prepared to pay for Fernandes mean a reluctant Liverpool won't be budging any time soon for the 28-year-old.


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