Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has confirmed that Luis Diaz missed the Reds’ pre-season friendly defeat to AC Milan due to ongoing transfer speculation, while also clarifying the reason behind Darwin Nunez’s absence.
Diaz has been involved with Liverpool’s pre-season preparations but has yet to feature in any of the three friendlies played so far this summer.
Bayern Munich are reportedly prioritising a move for the Colombian winger, and although the two clubs remain in talks, no new offer had been received as of Friday.
Liverpool previously rejected a first offer valued at around £59 million.
Following the defeat to AC Milan, Slot confirmed that Diaz was left out of the squad due to the ongoing transfer negotiations.
“He’s training really well with us,” Slot said, “but we’ve decided, for now, not to play him yet.
“I’m used to talking to most of my players on a regular basis, like I said, Lucho is training really well and we’ve decided he’s not playing at the moment. I cannot comment much more about that.”
The Colombian watched the game from the bench alongside seven other senior players who also missed out, including Nunez, who is attracting interest from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
However, Nunez’s absence was not related to transfer talks but rather a minor fitness issue.
Slot explained: “In Darwin’s case, he has trained really well and played a few good games for us, but he was injured, so we didn’t want to take any risks with him.”
Speaking on Wataru Endo, who missed the match due to illness, Slot added that he “assumes they will be with us” for the next game in Japan.
Bayern appear keen to finalise the Diaz deal quickly, having prioritized signing a new attacker after losing Leroy Sane and Thomas Muller, and with Jamal Musiala sidelined due to a broken leg.
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