Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that the Catalan giants tried and failed to beat Liverpool to the signing of Luis Diaz earlier this year.
The Colombia international garnered interest from across Europe after scoring 16 goals in 28 games for Porto during the first half of the 2021-22 season.
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were among the sides linked with a January move for Diaz, but Liverpool ultimately won the race to bring him to the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp's side are believed to have paid an initial €47m (£41m) to Porto for the capture of Diaz, which could rise to as much as €60m (£52.4m) if all performance-related add-ons are hit.
However, things could have been very different for the 25-year-old, with Laporta now admitting that Barcelona were also interested in signing him over the winter.
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La Blaugrana's volatile financial situation has been well-documented over the past year, though, and their economic difficulties meant that they were not able to compete with Liverpool for the winger's signature.
"Liverpool beat us to it. There was a time when we were considering signing him but we still had an economic situation that we had to resolve, to reverse, and they beat us to it," Laporta told Mundo Deportivo, as quoted by 90Min.
"He's a great player and he belongs to Liverpool and I won't talk about this anymore but yes, I admit it, in the past, when he went from Porto to Liverpool, we had a conversation with his representative but Liverpool already had it very advanced."
Having failed to prise Diaz away from Porto, Barcelona moved to secure the signature of Raphinha from Leeds United and also tied Ousmane Dembele down to a new deal at Camp Nou.
Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Memphis Depay also represent wide options in Xavi's well-stocked ranks, although the former and latter are facing uncertain futures with the La Liga giants.
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Diaz immediately became a fan favourite at Liverpool, scoring six goals and setting up five more in 26 games in his first half-season and impressing with effervescent displays out wide.
The South American won the FA Cup and EFL Cup in his debut year and also opened the 2022-23 season strongly with four goals and three assists in 11 games across the Premier League and Champions League.
Diaz has now missed Liverpool's last 10 matches in all competitions with the knee injury that he picked up in the Reds' 3-2 defeat to Arsenal last month, but there is optimism surrounding a potential return before the New Year.
Klopp's side will travel to Dubai during the World Cup break to compete in the Dubai Super Cup, and Diaz is expected to be involved in some capacity after starting to run at the AXA Training Centre last week.
Liverpool face Lyon on December 11 before tackling AC Milan three days later in the Dubai Super Cup, and Arsenal will also be present in the four-team tournament.
Ben Knapton
