Arne Slot may have finally found Liverpool's long-term Sadio Mane successor
Luis Diaz has started the season well - but can he keep up his goalscoring and become Liverpool's successor to Sadio Mane
It was a moment that may have briefly taken Liverpool supporters back to the heady days of 2019 or 2020. A long, angled pass out of defence to a force breaking with pace from the left hand side. One touch to control, then around the goalkeeper without ever breaking stride.
The finish was, in light of recent evidence, never really in doubt.
For Luis Diaz against Bournemouth in 2024, see any number of Sadio Mane goals in the aforementioned years. Norwich away springs to mind, or Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. The Senegalese's ability to cut across the centre of the pitch from the left and leave defences for dead delivered 22 Premier League goals in a season that saw him truly take off at Anfield in 2018/19.
Could history be repeating itself with Mane's Colombian successor at Anfield? Liverpool supporters will hope so, and five goals in five Premier League matches so far this season is encouragement enough that Diaz's numbers are finally heading in the right direction after two-and-a-half seasons of promise.
Of course, it's not as if Diaz has underperformed for Liverpool since arriving in a shock £50m deal from Porto in January of 2022 as perhaps Mane's long-term successor, with him leaving the club for Bayern Munich six months later. Diaz enjoyed an excellent start to life on Merseyside, and has since been relied upon heavily by Jurgen Klopp and his successor Arne Slot and is a player who undoubtedly excites supporters with his direct style of play.
But underdelivered? Perhaps. In all his time at Liverpool he's scored a grand total of 29 goals. Not bad, but not the heights hit by his predecessor and he's never struck more than 10 Premier League goals in either of his full campaigns with the Reds so far.
That he's halfway to that total already this term speaks volumes, and just like Mane, could see his third full season at Liverpool become his most significant yet.
For Mane, goal returns of 13 and 10 in the league jumped to 22 in his third campaign, following by a further 18 and 11 in the next two seasons. He shone in Europe, too, with the Champions League a particularly happy hunting ground for the former Southampton man as he struck 24 goals in 57 games for the Reds.
And while Mane's assist tally was always respectable, his most fruitful campaign in terms of goals saw him develop a particular ruthless streak, with just four assists to his name for the 26 goals his netted in all competitions in 2018/19.
That, perhaps, is a place Diaz needs to go to in order to bring his own numbers towards that of Mane's. More shots will inevitably lead to more goals and the Colombian set the tone against the Cherries with four efforts and with 11 already taken this season, that ranks him within the 95th percentile in Europe's top five leagues.
Diaz arguably showed that ruthless streak with a brilliant dribble to beat several Bournemouth defenders before firing at Kepa from a tight angle. It was a moment that left waiting team-mates frustrated in the six yard box but was a signal of intent for a player who would go on to score twice in the game.
Indeed, Diaz only need to look at his team-mate Mohamed Salah for the standards set by ruthless goalscorers (he has 15 shots this season with three goals scored) and it was no doubt competition with the Egyptian that saw Mane's own returns improve once he arrived at the club in 2017.
After all, there's nothing wrong with some healthy competition and while there has been some talk of Liverpool's interest in Anthony Gordon proving to be the motivating factor in Diaz's good form, Slot was quick to dismiss any change in the player's motivations this season.
"The way I looked at Liverpool for the last eight or nine years, I only saw players that were highly, highly, highly motivated," said the Reds boss.
"I think almost every manager took Liverpool as an example of how to work without the ball. The energy they put in, in all these years with Jurgen, I think that’s what you still see and I am really happy with us. So, for me, I don’t see any change. If you see any differently then that’s possible because you saw more games than me, but the way I looked at all the Liverpool players and the way they’ve played in recent years, they were always very aggressive and that’s what [Luis] still is."
On the face of it, Slot is right. It's hard to see much change in Diaz's approach than perhaps a more clinical edge that has been missing. He's often one of Liverpool's most dangerous players but returns empty handed for his efforts. This can be evidenced by his performance in last season's 1-1 draw with Man City at Anfield, a game in which he simultaneously tormented Pep Guardiola's side and let them off the hook.
But perhaps if Diaz is to reach Mane's heights at Anfield then there are two clear areas to improve. The first of which is staying fit, something the 27-year-old proved he could do last season, not missing a single league game through injury after a knee problem suffered in 2022/23 took him out for a huge chunk of the campaign.
The second is ensuring the lean spells in front of goal don't last. Mane was never one to wrack up too many goals per game but scored consistently and, with the exception of 2020/21, never went more than seven games without a goal for the Reds, and that was on just one occasion in his final season.
Diaz, meanwhile went seven, 10 and seven last term without finding the net. Those spells simply can't last if he is to match Mane.
For now it's so far, so good. But for Liverpool fans given visions of Mane by Diaz's opening goal on Saturday, they'll be hoping this rich vein of form isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
