Liverpool rejects Barcelona approach for Luis Diaz, AP source says

Liverpool has rejected an approach from Barcelona for forward Luis Diaz, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press on Thursday.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information has not been made public.

Spanish champion Barcelona is looking to strengthen, and sporting director Deco has publicly confirmed admiration for Diaz and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford.

It is not known how much Barcelona was prepared to pay for Colombia international Diaz, but Liverpool informed the Catalan club he was not for sale, the person said.

The 28-year-old Diaz scored 17 goals in Liverpool’s Premier League title-winning campaign last season.

He scored a hat trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and was a key figure in attack for manager Arne Slot.

Last month, Deco spoke to Catalan radio RAC1 and was specifically asked about Diaz and Rashford.

“We like Luis, we like Rashford, we like a series of players we have on a list that we have been working on for years,” he said.

Liverpool is also looking to make additions during the offseason, with Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz a reported target. But the Merseyside club sees Diaz as an important part of its plans to retain the Premier League title next year and make a push in the Champions League.

Diaz joined Liverpool from Porto in 2022 for a deal worth around 37.5 million pounds ($51 million). In that time he was won the league, FA Cup and two English League Cups, scoring 41 goals in 148 games.

___

AP sports writer Joe Wilson in Barcelona contributed.

___

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer