Sold in Jan, now a PL "livewire": Everton will rue not signing "frightening" £37m gem - opinion

Everton have made too many recent transfer mistakes, whether it was by letting a player go for too cheap, or by signing a player for a hefty price tag who failed to live up to expectations – or is still failing.

However, they have also made too many mistakes in not signing high-quality players when they had the chance who have since gone on to become world-class – like new Liverpool star Luis Diaz who has been described by former Reds midfielder Adam Lallana on BBC Radio 5 Live as “phenomenal“.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano claimed in the summer that Diaz wanted Everton as a “priority” and a deal which would have seen James Rodriguez head the other way back to his former club Porto on-loan, was progressing and the club were confident it would be agreed.

After no agreement was reached, and Rodriguez was sold to Al-Rayyan in Qatar, the deal was taken quickly off the table, with Porto aware that they could attract a higher fee in the January transfer window – as they did with the Colombian forward heading to Merseyside – but to the red part.

Since completing a £37m move to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side, the 25-year-old has scored once in four Premier League appearances, making 2.3 key passes per game as well as completing 62% of his dribbles and winning an impressive 73% of his aerial battles per game.

In all competitions, Diaz ranks in the top 7% among wingers across Europe’s top five leagues and continental competitions in dribbles completed per 90 minutes (2.92), as well as in the top 10% for pass completion percentage per 90 (83.2%) and long passes per 90 (90.3%).

His defensive contributions have been impressive too, ranking in the top 2% for tackles in the final third per 90 (0.62) and in the top 1% for successful