Bundesliga
Luis Díaz has hit the ground running since joining Bayern Munich from Liverpool, helping fire Vincent Kompany’s side to the summit of the Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League. We chart the rise of the superstar winger, from humble beginnings in his native Colombia to the pinnacle of the global game.
“I think I carry a bit of my home town inside me,” Luis Díaz tells the Bundesliga. “I always try to be happy and just enjoy the moment.”
Given the Bayern star’s background, neither of those two statements should come as a surprise.
Born in Barrancas in Colombia’s La Guajira region – one of the country’s most deprived areas – Díaz’s upbringing could not have been in starker contrast to the fame and fortune of top-level professional football.
Watch: Luis Díaz nets breathtaking strike as Bayern draw at Union Berlin
His family are members of the Wayuu – Colombia’s largest indigenous community – many of whom live without access to sufficient food, clean water and basic healthcare. Over 4,770 Wayuu children are believed to have died from malnutrition between 2008 and 2016.
Not that Díaz’s childhood was an unhappy one. When he wasn’t honing his skills at a football school run by his father, he most enjoyed watching goods trains chug through Barrancas on their way from Cerrejon, one of the world’s biggest open coal mines, to nearby harbours, where the freight was loaded onto ships bound for Europe.
Despite earning a place in the youth set-up of top-flight club Atlético Junior in 2014, it seemed unlikely that Díaz would ever embark on a similar journey himself until the following year, when we was called up to represent Colombia at the Copa America of Indigenous People in Chile. However, his weight – or lack thereof – was a cause for concern.
Watch: Luis Díaz signs for Bayern
“For a moment, we thought it would be very difficult for him to perform,” John ‘Pocillo’ Díaz, who coached Colombia at the tournament, told BBC Sport in 2022. “He was very skinny and lost duels with other players, but despite that, he managed to stand out among 400 candidates and make the 26-man squad.”
Colombia were beaten 1-0 by Paraguay in the final, but Díaz’s displays proved to be his first steps towards stardom. He was promptly snapped up by Colombian second-division side Barranquilla FC, who not only created a new age group to accommodate the then 18-year-old but also devised a nutrition and fitness plan for the winger.
Thanks to a diet rich in red meat and pasta, Díaz would put on 10 kilograms during his time at the club.
He was soon on the move again, though, returning to Junior, where he quickly became a firm favourite among the supporters. “He was such a hard worker and extremely fit,” coach Julio Comesaña told The Athletic in 2022. “Once he claimed a starting spot, he never let go.”
A personal-best tally of 16 goals in all competitions during the 2017/18 season attracted interest from Argentinian giants River Plate, among others, but when the time came to choose his next move, Díaz opted to sign for Portuguese side Porto, putting pen to paper on a five-year contract in July 2019.
It was during his three years in Portugal that Díaz began to establish a reputation as one of the game’s most fearsome wingers, registering 60 goal involvements – 41 goals and 19 assists – in 125 games across all competitions, helping the club win the league and cup double in 2020.
Watch: Díaz scores after 15 seconds
He was one of the standout performers at the Copa America in 2021, finding the net against both Brazil and Argentina before netting twice against Peru in a 3-2 third-place-play-off victory. Only Lionel Messi scored as often at the tournament in Brazil.
A big-money move to Liverpool followed in January 2022. Once again, Díaz took to his new surroundings like a duck to water, registering four goals and three assists in his first 13 outings in England’s top flight.
He saved his best season in England until last, though, plundering 13 goals and seven assists in 2024/25 to help Arne Slot’s team lift their first league title since 2020, when Jürgen Klopp was at the helm.
Despite that impressive return, there was a suspicion that Díaz might find himself surplus to requirements under Slot, who substituted the Colombian on or off in 29 of his 38 league appearances in 2024/25. In the end, Bayern’s lucrative offer in July this year proved far too good for the Reds to turn down.
The record champions’ third-most expensive signing after Harry Kane and Lucas Hernández, Díaz is making that outlay look like spare change – and a mockery of former Reds’ midfielder Dietmar Hamann’s suggestion that Liverpool were “laughing” at the transfer.
He has helped fire Bayern to the summit of both the Bundesliga and the Champions League, scoring 11 and setting up a further five goals in his first 17 appearances. Only Kane – with 23 goals and three assists – has registered more goal involvements this term.
“Considering that this is his very first season and his first steps in Germany, he’s been impressive,” Bayern boss Vincent Kompany said recently. “His activity and energy fit very well into the team. He’s always involved, always there.”
As for Díaz himself? Well, to borrow the 28-year-old’s phrase, he is “enjoying the moment”.
“The team is making it very easy for me on the pitch,” he recently told Sport Bild. “We have a lot of great players, especially up front. That gives me a lot of security and confidence.
“I’m really, really happy.”