Will Luis Diaz play against Luton? The latest on Liverpool star’s availability after parents’ kidnapping
By Neil Jones | Luis Diaz could return to the Liverpool squad for this weekend’s trip to Luton Town, Jurgen Klopp has confirmed.
The Colombian international has missed the Reds’ last two matches following the kidnapping of his parents in his homeland last weekend.
It emerged this week that the National Liberation Army (ELN), a militant insurgency group, were responsible for the kidnapping.
Diaz’s mother, Cilenus Marulanda, was found safe and well in Barrancas last Saturday, and in a video released on Thursday, ELN member Juan Carlos Cuellar stated that the player’s father, Luis Manuel, would be released imminently.
Diaz and Liverpool still await news on that, but Klopp confirmed on Friday that the 26-year-old has returned to training, and that the player himself will decide whether he is involved in Sunday’s game at Kenilworth Road.
“He was in training two days ago,” Klopp said. “Yesterday [Thursday] he had a session and will be part of the team. We must wait. If he feels right, he will be here and train with us.
“The session he had with us, you can see when he is with the boys he is fine, he is OK, but you could see he didn’t sleep a lot. We have to see how he is and we go from there.”
He added: “The news from Colombia gives us a little bit of hope. We are waiting for the really good news but that’s it pretty much.
“I cannot say what we will do because we just wait [to see] where we can pick up the boy from and go from there.
“But it’s all about him, if he makes himself available or not, and I will not force anything.”
Liverpool head to Luton in good form, having won their last four games in all competitions since the international break.
Darwin Nunez has scored in the last three of those, including a spectacular winner in the Carabao Cup at Bournemouth on Wednesday night, and Klopp says he is enthused by what he is seeing from the Uruguayan international in recent weeks.
“He’s in a very good moment and it’s still only the start for him,” the Reds boss said. “He’s in a good moment and long may it continue, hopefully it will continue like that forever.
“I’m a bit afraid of the heights he could reach because there is so much there, it’s crazy! But now we’ve found the real starting moment and let’s work from here.”
