Jurgen Klopp has lauded Luis Diaz as a ‘natural’ fit for Liverpool despite the ongoing challenge presented by the language barrier between himself and the club’s latest signing.
The Reds acquired the Colombian international for a fee of £37.5m from FC Porto, choosing to move early for their summer target following interest expressed by league rivals Tottenham.
“That is always completely different from player to player but with Luis, for obvious reasons, there is a language issue with me,” the German told Sky Sports.
“I do not speak Spanish and he does not speak English. He is learning. I am not learning so we will have to wait until his English gets better.
“Until then, we have a lot of people here who are in constant talks with him. It will take time.
“He is at a new club and he is thinking about what people expect. But he is obviously pretty natural here. That is why he plays the way that he plays.”
Having produced a vast swathe of electrifying performances for the Merseysiders on the left-flank since swapping the Estadio do Dragao for Anfield, it’s fair to say that the side’s early move has been more than justified.
With the 54-year-old no doubt keen to directly implement little tweaks to Diaz’s game where necessary – emphasis on ‘little’ with Jurgen keen not to throw the player off from his natural game – there’s no questioning the fact that this must be a source of some frustration.
That being said, with several Spanish speakers in the squad and coaching staff (indeed, Pep Lijnders is bi-lingual), we’ve no doubt that any pertinent instructions are being passed on where necessary.
The key thing is that, for now, our winter signing continues to impress in the forward line – which presents a frightening prospect for our rivals once he’s fully acclimatised.
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