Barcelona is reportedly not willing to pay any more than €60 million ($69 million) to sign Luis Diaz from Liverpool this summer.
Diaz and Manchester United's Marcus Rashford are among the players who have been earmarked as possible targets by the La Liga club, as Hansi Flick looks to reinforce his attack ahead of next season.
Barcelona sporting director Deco and Barcelona manager Flick both publicly praised Diaz last month. "We like Luis Diaz, we like Rashford… and we like other wingers too," Deco said. "We can't talk about players under contract with other clubs."
Flick, meanwhile, said: “I don’t want to speak about players which are not in my team, but of course Luis Diaz and Marcus Rashford are fantastic players. I like them and we’ll see what happens.”
The report by Spanish outlet Sport about Barcelona being unwilling to spend any more than $69 million on Diaz comes after it was reported last week that Liverpool had made it clear to Barca that Diaz was not for sale.
Barcelona was said by The Athletic to have made contact with Liverpool last Wednesday over the possibility of signing Diaz, but the Catalan club was met with a swift rejection as the Reds have no desire to let Diaz leave.
However, there is said to be little expectation that Diaz will pen an extension to his current contract at Liverpool, which is due to expire in 2027. The Colombian married his childhood sweetheart over the weekend.
Luis Diaz and Gera Ponce have tied the knot
Luis Diaz and Gera Ponce tied the knot over the weekend (Image: Instagram @Luis.diaz.07)
Liverpool has reportedly attempted to address Diaz's contract situation but little progress has been made, and rather than sell him this summer, the club would prefer to maximize his performance value over the next two years and allow him to leave for nothing following the 2026-27 season.
According to Capology, Diaz currently earns £55,000 ($73,000) per week, which is significantly lower than players of a similar standing in Arne Slot squad.
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Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, and Federico Chiesa are all reported to earn more than double the amount that Diaz takes home, and Diaz could be forgiven for finding that galling given Chiesa barely played all season and the Colombian scored more goals than Gakpo, Nunez, and Jota.
While Liverpool does not intend to allow Diaz to leave, the club's resolve could be tested by an offer from Al-Nassr, with the Saudi Pro League club reportedly willing to spend $97 million on him.
An offer of that magnitude could prompt club bosses to sit up and take notice, as that kind of money could allow Liverpool to sign a younger replacement for Diaz, with tentative links with Newcastle's Anthony Gordon having resurfaced of late.