Jurgen Klopp hopes Luis Diaz’s arrival will inspire Liverpool’s other forwards

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expects the arrival of new signing Luis Diaz to provoke a response from his current front four.

The German has also warned that the club – and therefore players – cannot afford to stand still and must always be looking to progress.

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino will all be 30 by the summer and the trio have contracts which expire 12 months later.

Due to his current form Salah’s ongoing negotiations have attracted the most attention but his fellow forwards also have a future to consider and the 25-year-old Diaz’s £37.5million arrival is the latest attempt to freshen up the forward line after Diogo Jota joined from Wolves in September 2020.

Asked how he expected his established stars to react to the Colombia international’s arrival, Klopp said: “How sports people react.

“First and foremost nothing happened apart from we brought a really good player in. Now we really have to work with Luis, and all the others as well.

“The reaction of the players is always that they have to perform at the highest level. That has always to be the case.

“Our players, even when we had injuries and only three available up front, pushed themselves to an extreme extent absolutely all the time and that is why we were pretty successful in the last few years.

“But we cannot hope that we get through this with three or four players. We need options and we need help.

“All development includes fresh blood as well and that’s what we did with Diogo when he came here and now when we signed Luis it is exactly the same.

“Players might have plans for their future but a club has to be ready for pretty much all scenarios and that’s what we do between playing games all the time.

“This club is too big to rely on single persons, whether that’s me or a player, and has to be ready for all different scenarios.

“We constantly prepare for today and for tomorrow as well. That is what our job has to be. We feel in a good place at this moment.”

Diaz flew into Liverpool John Lennon Airport from Paris, where he was awaiting the outcome of his visa application, on Friday afternoon.

That left him little time to acquaint himself with his new manager, team-mates and surroundings ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at home to Cardiff.

But if there is a chance to put him in the squad just to sample the atmosphere and give fans an opportunity to see the new arrival, Klopp will strive to do so.

“If he had been here yesterday (Thursday) he could have trained a little bit and I would have definitely considered it,” he added.

“I don’t know, give me a second to meet him and to ask him how his last two or three days were. It’s not easy to sit around in Paris waiting for the papers.

“It is not the best time in your life and doesn’t help you with recovery from the intense period he had with two games for Colombia and massive travel.

“Let’s have a look. I wouldn’t say no because I would be excited as well about giving him a few minutes in a sold-out Anfield but let’s see.”