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Arne Slot has revealed why Luis Diaz missed Liverpool’s friendly with AC Milan.

Diaz was a notable absentee as Slot’s side suffered a 4-2 loss in Hong Kong on Saturday to mark two decades since the 2005 Champions League final.

The Colombia international continues to attract interest from Bayern Munich, who saw their opening approach for him swiftly rebuffed by Anfield chiefs.

Arne Slot confirms why Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez missed Liverpool's pre-season game with AC Milan	Arne Slot explains the reason for Luis Diaz’s absence from AC Milan friendly	Why Liverpool players' Nike jerseys have special design for AC Milan friendly

Post-match, Slot confirmed the reasons both Diaz and Darwin Nunez, who has also been tipped to leave the Reds during the summer transfer window.

He said: “In Lucho’s situation it was [due to speculation], yeah.

“There’s a lot of rumours around him lately and I cannot go into that.

“He’s training really well with us but we have decided for now not to play him yet.

I cannot comment much more about that.

“In Darwin’s situation he has trained also really well and played a few good games for us already this season but he was injured so we didn’t take the risk.

“That’s part of pre-season; the boys need to go towards match fitness and that’s a thin balance, thin line sometimes.”

The Liverpool head coach also disclosed the details of Joe Gomez’s early departure from the tour of Asia after encountering an Achilles problem.

Slot added: “We thought it was better to assess it back in England and for him to work on him to come back to the team, probably in more ideal circumstances for him than be part of the group that every time goes out.

“So, we decided to let him go back to England.