The 2021/22 Premier League season, after so many nerve-wracking moments on the final day, has come to an end with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City crowned as Champions.
However, it was not easy for the Cityzens, as Liverpool was chasing them until the last minute of the season.
City looked to be the clear favourites up until mid-February, but things have changed since then.
Liverpool were one of the in-form teams of 2022 and were unstoppable coming into the final week.
One of the biggest reasons for Liverpool’s success in the last couple of months is the winter arrival of Luis Díaz.
The 25-year-old signed from FC Porto towards the end of the January window and has adapted seamlessly to life in the Premier League.
The following visualisation shows where Luis Díaz ranks for some of the key attacking metrics when compared with the wingers from Europe’s top five leagues.
The 25-year-old Colombian has four goals and two assists to his name in the Premier League in just 12 appearances.
The winger is a pacey, direct player who is extremely skilled and hard to defend against in one-on-one situations due to his exceptional dribbling ability.
His Expected Goals (xG) per 90 of 0.40 puts him above so many other wingers in Europe and ranks in the 85th percentile for that metric.
His goals for Liverpool in the league have come at important stages, for instance, his equaliser against Spurs, the opener against United at Anfield and the opener against Brighton.
He is extremely good at dribbling, as indicated by his percentile rank for Dribbles Success (%) – 82nd percentile.
He is not bad at crossing and finding his teammates too, sitting in the 75th percentile for Crossing Success.
He has also proved to be a very important impact substitute for Liverpool on many occasions.
It looks like Liverpool have another transfer success story in their bag, but Luis Díaz’s career at the Merseyside club has just started, and there is a long way to go.
It will be interesting to see how important a player Díaz becomes for the Reds in the years to come.
