'It wasn't the reason': Klopp claims Diaz was not brought in to compete with Mane

"I've known Sadio nearly six years. As far as I know him, he never needed any kind of competition to try and be the best version of himself," Jurgen Klopp said at a press conference, as per the Liverpool Echo.

"For a long time he pretty much played all the games when he was fit and performed to an incredibly high level consistently.

"Bringing in Luis [Diaz], I'm not sure that it affected that part of his game. I don't know, but it was not the reason for bringing in Luis. Playing the centre obviously suits Sadio very well as well.

"He played for us and scored some incredible goals and some important goals from the left-wing, but he can play the centre as well. And we saw that again.

"Sadio as well had some physical struggles since he came back. The boy didn't feel it but we could see it. He cannot use his immense physicality just like this week in, week out, every three days. That was the problem.

"But I really felt before the game against City, 'okay that looks like Sadio physically'. And that's why he could play the game he played. Very important, he was super difficult to defend and very helpful and incredibly important in our defending.

"His first goal, you can only score if you try to get there and he did that. You only do this run if you feel fresh enough to do it, it all works together.

"No, I don't think that Luis is the reason Sadio scored four goals. But he is a little as well because he can keep a last line pretty busy and that opens up gaps for other players."

Luis Diaz played off the left for Porto, so it was natural to assume that Mane's position in the team was not as secure after his arrival.

Since then, however, they've already made several appearances in the same team, with mane shifting into the central position. That's how they played in the FA Cup win over Man City, with Mane scoring a brace.

Source: Liverpool Echo