New signing Luis Diaz has been included in the Liverpool squad for their FA Cup fourth round clash against Cardiff on Sunday.
The Reds stole a march on Tottenham to land the Colombian winger late in the January transfer window from Porto. 90min understands that Liverpool agreed to meet Porto's demands of a €60m total package, which will include €45m in solid payments plus €15m in performance related add-ons.
The 25-year-old has signed a long-term contract until 2027 and joined up with his new teammates on Friday following international duty with his country.
The player has now acquired a work permit, and it seems manager Jurgen Klopp feels the attacker is ready for action already. Their team sheet for Sunday has been released and Diaz makes the substitute bench, with Takumi Minamino, Robert Firmino and Diogo Jota taking the attacking spots.
Speaking about Diaz's arrival in his pre-match press conference ahead of the cup tie, Klopp said: “First and foremost nothing happened apart from we brought in a really good player.
“It’s really nice to have these kind of options. We constantly prepare for today and for tomorrow as well. That is what our job has to be. The reaction of the players is always that they have to perform at the highest level.
“Our players, even when we had injuries and only three available up front, they pushed themselves to an extreme extent absolutely all the time and that is why we were pretty successful in the last few years.
“But we cannot hope that we get through this with three or four players. We need options and we need help. All development includes fresh blood as well and that’s what we did with Diogo [Jota] when he came here and now when we signed Luis it is exactly the same.
“Players might have plans for their future but a club has to be ready for pretty much all scenarios and that’s what we do between playing games all the time. This club is too big to rely on single persons, whether that’s me or a player, and has to be ready for all different scenarios. We feel in a good place at this moment.”
Liverpool host Championship Cardiff at midday and will be expected to progress to the next round of the FA Cup.
Source : 90min