Jurgen Klopp shares Liverpool plan for Luis Diaz after injury return

Jurgen Klopp insisted that Liverpool will continue to bring Luis Diaz back ‘step by step’ after making his first appearance in six months.

The winger suffered a devastating knee injury in a 3-2 loss to Arsenal last October. It’s been a long road to recovery for Diaz - especially after hitting a setback during a warm-weather training camp in December which sidelined him for longer.

But after several weeks of working towards a return to action, the Colombia international was included in the bench for the Reds’ Premier League trip to Leeds United on Monday night. And the emphatic 6-1 win was given an added bonus as Diaz came off the bench with nine minutes remaining.

After arriving from Porto in January 2022 for a fee that could reach £50 million, Diaz has made a profound impression at Anfield. Before his latest cameo, he’d scored 10 goals in 38 appearances and helped Liverpool win the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in his first six months on Merseyside.

Now Klopp is relishing having the tenaciou 26-year-old available once again. The Liverpool boss said: after the Leeds win: “Yeah, super-important, so Luis is back. He's now lacking rhythm, which is normal, [and] a bit of sharpness, but that's normal as well. In training sessions you cannot get there to the final degree of sharpness, so we now try to just help him [get there] step by step back really into the team [and] give him minutes. It's just nice to see him play, to be honest. We missed him so long, so it's just nice to see him being involved again.”