Steven Gerrard has expressed his desire to see Luis Diaz return to Liverpool, admitting he misses the winger, while also ruling out a move for Bayern Munich star Michael Olise. Diaz played a crucial role in Liverpool's Premier League title triumph last season before departing for Bayern in a £65.5 million deal last summer. With Mohamed Salah set to leave Anfield at the end of the season, Liverpool are searching for a replacement, and Olise has been linked with a Premier League return. However, Gerrard believes the 24-year-old has no reason to leave Bayern and expects him to shine at the upcoming World Cup.
Gerrard on Olise's quality
Speaking to TNT Sports, Gerrard highlighted Olise's versatility as a winger. 'When you are a full-back playing up against a winger, they normally have a weak side and you show them one way or another, depending what foot they are. The problem with him is he can go both ways, his right foot is just as strong as his left. You really want to show him on his right foot because that's probably his weaker side, but you see some of the assists he's getting, some of the finishes with his right foot. If you leave him in one-versus-one situations, you are in major trouble.'
Would he take Olise at Liverpool?
'All day long,' Gerrard replied. 'But the problem is, why would he leave Bayern? A big club, challenging for the big honours, and they are probably the strongest Bayern Munich team we have seen for a while. He is about to take the World Cup by storm come the summer. He looks like a really happy kid, settled, to me, I don't think he's going anywhere. But, yes, would I love him at Liverpool. And you know what, I wouldn't mind Diaz back as well. I'm missing him, I'm missing him.'
Carragher's contrasting view
Jamie Carragher, Gerrard's former Liverpool teammate, disagreed, saying the club were right to sell Diaz. 'No. They miss him as a player, 100 per cent, there's no doubt, and that was always going to be the case, he was a really good player for Liverpool. But sometimes you get presented deals as a club and at the time that was a good deal for Liverpool. Liverpool I think bought Luis Diaz for £40 million, they had him for four seasons maybe, he was due for a new contract, he'd been on the same contract since he came, so he wasn't on huge wages and the next one would have put him on a big contract and Liverpool would have had him until his early 30s, which is probably not what they wanted ideally. Bayern Munich had a problem because they tried to get Florian Wirtz, obviously he came to Liverpool, then Musiala got injured during the Club World Cup, so they were desperate for a player, I think they ended up paying £70m for Luis Diaz at 28, so the whole package was a good deal. But listen, he's still a really good player, you saw that last season for Liverpool and we're now seeing it for Bayern. But I wouldn't criticise the club for it.'
