By acquiring Luis Díaz from Liverpool, Bayern Munich is on the verge of making the club’s first big signing of the 2025 summer transfer window. Flirtations with Florian Wirtz and Nico Williams fell short but Bayern fans will exhale this week once Bayern finally lock down a versatile attacker to complement Jamal Musiala and company.
A lot of critics have pointed to Díaz’s high price tag (reportedly €75M) and age (28) as roadblocks for this deal to judged as an acceptable risk. However, Díaz will succeed
at Bayern where his countryman, James Rodríguez, and former teammate, Sadio Mané, failed.
Off-ball movement
If you look at his goals in the Premier League last season (NBCSports via YouTube), all 13 situations were created by a unique run from Díaz that generated space for himself and usually a teammate as well. Admittedly, Díaz is not exactly a pure creative force on the ball.
The biggest beneficiaries of Díaz’s presence will be Musiala and Alphonso Davies. Díaz loves to create for others with quick passes and clever flicks. Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sané, and Serge Gnabry never found a way to open up these opportunities for Davies on the left flank.
Bayern struggled horribly with low blocks in Vincent Kompany’s first season. Díaz is not a magic key but his runs should inspire the rest of the attack in the final third to create problems for the rest of the Bundesliga.
Work rate
Díaz is known for his relentless work rate on both sides of the pitch. He wins a fair amount of ground duels and is fantastic in ball recovery. He is particularly effective in the high press and will always put his head down to sprint back for balls if Davies gets caught too high on an overlapping run.
Paired on the depth chart with Coman, Díaz will be a fantastic change of pace option. Coman is definitely faster at every distance but Díaz has a sneaky acceleration that will prove opportunistic if he replaces Coman in a match. No right back in the world wants to chase Coman for 60 minutes then have to deal with a fresh Díaz.
Availability and flexibility
Besides a knee (LCL) injury in 2022 that sidelined him for six months, Díaz has only missed eight total games in seven years as a professional footballer. Between club and country, he has played 9,000 minutes the past two seasons and stayed in playing shape the entire time.
Díaz has the ability to play as a left winger, attacking midfielder, and pure forward. He was incredibly efficient as a false nine at Liverpool, although that might have to wait until Musiala is back to full strength or Harry Kane is out for an extended period.
Díaz is 28-years-old and should be able to play at this same level for another three or four years. A lot of pundits have predicted that he will end up in the Saudi Pro League at some point, prompting a likely sell-on clause in the transfer from Liverpool. However, Díaz is fiercely loyal and will want to fulfill his full contract in Munich.
Conclusion
Díaz is not a guaranteed A+ transfer like everyone wanted in Wirtz. He will be an upgrade over the current winger options and will prevent Bayern from overpaying Stuttgart for Nick Woltemade this summer. He may not be the singular piece that elevates Bayern to a Champions League winner but he will immediately elevate Bayern in the immediate future.
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