Liverpool £37m transfer decision gives Aston Villa and Steven Gerrard an advantage

After Luis Diaz made his Liverpool bow after completing a £37million move to Jurgen Klopp's side, a comparison was made.

Even Anfield legend Mark Lawrenson was getting in on the act, comparing Diaz to Philippe Coutinho, who is now on loan at Aston Villa from Barcelona.

Coutinho left Liverpool for Barcelona four years ago in a £142million move to the Nou Camp but has found himself at Villa Park with his former team-mate on Merseyside, Steven Gerrard, in the home dugout in B6.

There was a lot of talk that Liverpool could take Coutinho back at Anfield, with the potential for Barcelona to rid themselves of a player costing them a lot of money both in wages and - still - transfer fees.

"I saw him in the second leg here at Anfield (for old side Porto) and he poses lots of problems," Lawrenson said of Diaz, who joined Liverpool from Porto last month.

"Right-footed comes in from the left, a bit like Coutinho used to do to score his goals all that way but also that would mean for me that he could play on the right."

Lawrenson wasn't the only person drawing the parallels between two tricky and classy South American wingers, with Liverpool supporters seeing similarities between the pair.

With the Reds making the shock move to gazump Tottenham Hotspur and add Diaz to a squad already brimming with quality, it has virtually eliminated any temptation that Klopp's side will have had to bring Coutinho back to the club.

His time in the wilderness in Barcelona and on the fringes of Bayern Munich at a loan spell in Bavaria saw his stock fall drastically but he is already looking at home back in the Premier League.

Coutinho made an instant impact against Manchester United on debut and plugged away against Everton the weekend after in a