Right, but coming from the Bundesliga which is one of Europe’s top leagues. And God knows how bad Naby has been hit by physical issues (not necessarily linked with the toughness in the PL, but still, his general solidity fell from a cliff as soon as he set foot in England).
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I agree, Luis Alberto just lacked something that couldn’t break him into our squad. done a fine job at Lazio though.
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That’s great!
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The standard at the top is at least significantly higher and so we’ve seen several players come straight from that league and been able to play in the Prem. With absolutely no stats to back it up, I’d image the success is fairly good relative to other european leagues.
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The Portuguese league always manages to pull off this kind of sales. I wonder: who can be considered an unmitigated suuccess after coming from Portugal to a top club at 25?
Hard to say definitively without him doing it here.
That said he has played well against PL opposition in the CL. Scored against Citeh and gave us problems this year.
General consensus from Portugal seems to be that he is one of the best attacking talents, possibly the best, coming out of the league for the past 10-15 years (Fernandes, Hulk, James, Joao Felix, Jota, Falcao etc.) His record this half season is one goal better than Fernandes’ when the Scum signed him. Diaz seems to be the best player in the league this year by some measure - two back to back player of the month and forward of the month awards back this up. On top of that I back Klopp to make any attacking player better.
Portuguese leage might not be PL but it is better than Austrian and Swiss league by some measure. The step up will be nowhere near as big as the one Taki is making.
Good injury record and an effective direct running playstyle. Stats comparisons, obviously different leagues but hints at how good he could be:
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Mel Reddy did an article where she name checks Diaz a year ago basically saying the French and Portuguese leagues are exactly where value is to be found. Spain/Germany/UK far too expensive.
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I’d say it’s the younger players you have to be wary of buying from Portugal, there’s some seriously overhyped ones who go for silly money and never look good enough.
As for senior players, Falcao or Fernandes come to mind.
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Bruno?
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From what I saw, two minor muscle injuries. Nothing else.
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Lynch reporting done deal
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Here we go from Fabrizio soon???
Wonder will he be thrown straight in to the team. Usually with Jürgen mid season signings are used straight away rather than giving them time to integrate like summer ones.
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Well, the wildcard here is Mane’s concussion - I wouldn’t be surprised if Diaz gets games relatively straight away to allow Sadio to recover fully.
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Chelsea have had several - Carvallho, Ferreira, Boswinga. Maniche was decent and dont think his limited time there was because he wasnt playing well.
We had Meireles. Currently there is Fernandes. You’d have to include Cristiano and Nani. Neves has been a success. It took Fernadinho a couple of years to figure it out, but I think that was due to changes at City as much as him.
You then look at players who went to other leagues, and even though they might not be able to demonstrate their bonafides in those leagues it was clear their performances in Portugal were a reflection of their real talent - Hulk, Falcao, Cuadrado, Deco, James, Moutinho
This is all just off the top of my head and so I’m sure if I dug into it I’d find way more.
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The first game he would be available for would be the cup game against Cardiff. Would give him a run out in the team and would allow us to rest one of the regular front three. Also 5 subs in the FA cup this year I believe so even if he doesn’t start he should get a run out.
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Mmmm I think the Portuguese league is well above those leagues let’s say it is the 6th league in Europe just behind France. Portugese teams know how to defend although it is not always clear when they play Liverpool 
now easy wat true for forwards.
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A cameo against Cardiff would be lovely to watch. I had assumed none of the players who have international now would play in that game, but surely we can make an acceptation here.
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Diaz for £37m + add-ons or Red Rum Lookalike at the Scum was £47m + add-ons…!!!
Just saying is all
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