Jurgen Klopp To Let Luis Diaz Decide On His Availability

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that he will allow Colombian winger, Luis Diaz, to decide on when he will be available to play following the player’s father remaining kidnapped in his home country.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Kenilworth Road to face Luton Town, Klopp said of the 26-year-old:

“We will wait to see how he is and go from there. We will not force the situation – it’s out of our hands,

If he feels right, he will train with us. When he’s with the boys he’s fine but you can tell he hasn’t slept a lot.”

It was confirmed last week that both Luis Diaz’s mother and father had been kidnapped in Colombia but his mother has since been released from that captivity. His, father, remains missing.

Earlier this week, the Colombian government said that left-wing rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN) were the guilty party and had taken his father.

ELN then released a statement suggesting they had been ‘unaware’ they had kidnapped him but would join a major military and police search in finding him.

Luis Diaz joined Liverpool towards the end of the January transfer window in 2022 from Porto and was a part of the squad that won both the FA Cup and EFL Cup that season, defeating Chelsea on penalties in both finals.

The winger began his youth career in Colombia with Atletico Junior before starting professionally at Barranquilla. He then rejoined Atletico Junior in 2017 for two years before a move to European football with the aforementioned Porto. He has scored nine goals in 43 caps for Colombia.