Date published: Sunday 30th January 2022 9:23 - Matthew Stead
Daniel Levy was furious with Liverpool after they beat Tottenham to a deal for Porto forward Luis Diaz.
Tottenham had entered negotiations with Porto over Diaz earlier this month, with some outlets suggesting they had a ÂŁ37.6m bid rejected.
The north London club hoped to find a breakthrough over the structure of a deal and had reportedly agreed a âŹ60m (ÂŁ49.8m) move with Porto, which involved âtargets that would be difficult for Diaz to achieveâ.
In an extensive report from the Daily Telegraph, it is claimed that Levy âdrove a hard bargainâ but was soon stunned as Liverpool swooped to secure the forward.
While the news broke on Friday, it was 24 hours earlier that the Tottenham chairman became aware Liverpool had gone above his head with a counter move. Levy was so incensed that he âthreatened to reportâ the clubâs recruitment team to owners John W. Henry and Mike Gordon.
âThe key flaw in that plan being that Henry and Gordon were delighted with the strategy pursued,â Sam Wallace writes.
Liverpool had been in relative control of the situation as early as last year, when Portoâs financial difficulties were laid bare after their delays in fulfilling their financial obligations of the deal that saw Marko Grujic move from Anfield to the Portuguese giants.
https://twitter.com/AnfieldEdition/status/1487009657432514561JĂźrgen Klopp saw Diaz as his âfirst-choice recruitâ by last summer but Portoâs asking price of âŹ60m plus add-ons proved prohibitive.
Liverpool opted not to engage, telling their Champions League group-stage opponents that they would enter negotiations again after the January transfer window.
Porto later informed Liverpool that âthere were other interested parties,â at which point Kloppâs team requested to be kept up to date and told âif a deal was agreedâ with another team. This proved to be key.
It was during that window of opportunity that Levy moved in to discuss a move, with Liverpool âgiven sight of the dealâ as soon as a âŹ60m move had been agreed between Tottenham and Porto. The Reds âmoved quicklyâ, agreed to pay the same fee and accepted Portoâs plea for âŹ8m to be paid up front by Monday.
Tottenham were powerless to stop the move progressing once Porto gave permission for Klopp to talk to Diaz over FaceTime. âThey got on wellâ and the playerâs representatives made it expressly clear âthat Liverpool were the preferred destinationâ.
The deal was in place by Thursday evening. Levy returned with an improved offer but with Liverpoolâs âŹ8m payment arranged and Klopp and Diaz having already spoken, it was too late.