Heskey: Liverpool made 'huge mistake' selling Luis Díaz to Bayern Munich

Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey says the club sold a winger whose tenacity and versatility have proved difficult to replace.

Luis Díaz is into his second season with Bayern Munich, and a former Liverpool striker believes his old club is still paying for the decision to sell him. Emile Heskey told Casinolyze that letting the Colombian winger leave Anfield ranks among the biggest errors Liverpool have made in recent times, because the qualities he brought have proved difficult to replace.

Heskey speaks from direct experience of the club. The former England international played for Liverpool from 2000 to 2004, making 223 appearances and scoring 60 goals across four seasons. He won the UEFA Cup, FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Super Cup in that span, and those years were spent playing alongside elite attackers — the perspective he brings to judging what Díaz gave the team.

His verdict was blunt. "Selling Luis Díaz was a huge mistake," Heskey said, before pointing to how the club plans its recruitment around age curves. "When you look at their recruitment area, they have people who look at ages and everything, assessing how people will progress," he said. "Obviously, when you get to a certain age, there will generally be a slow decline. But then you get anomalies like Mo Salah who continue well into their thirties." He added that Kane, in his 30s, is still performing strongly.

What Liverpool miss most, in Heskey's telling, is what Díaz did without the ball. "We've missed Díaz because of the tenacity he had," he said, recalling an attack that also featured Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané on the wings.

Mané, Heskey said, was outstanding, and supporters worried when he left once they understood how much he contributed in both directions, attacking and defending. "Díaz had that same tenacity to win the ball and chase everything," Heskey said. "He would chase lost causes." That appetite for pursuing every loose ball, he argued, set the Colombian apart.

Versatility was another strand of his argument. Heskey pointed to the occasions when Jürgen Klopp deployed Díaz in a central role, where he became a genuine threat because he offered Liverpool something different through the middle.

Remove those qualities, Heskey said, and Liverpool have been left trying to fill the void with something unlike what the club was used to. The side, in his view, plays differently and no longer looks the way supporters came to expect.

For Bayern, the other half of the equation reads simply: the club landed an attacker who also works hard defensively. Díaz has settled into a second campaign in Munich, and Heskey believes his former team continues to feel the absence of a winger who paired attacking production with tireless work off the ball.

Liverpool's next match is at Manchester United on Saturday, October 3, kicking off at 8:30 AM EDT at Leigh Sports Village. Coverage is available on Paramount+.