There can be no doubting that most of Arne Slot’s Liverpool side to win the Premier League last term have not done what was expected of them in 2025/26. After all, the Reds are seemingly out of any title race, sitting 12 points off leaders Arsenal at the halfway point of the season.
Players at Anfield have not been able to hit the same heights this time around. Even Trent Alexander-Arnold, who controversially joined Real Madrid in the summer, has struggled of late. One man, however, has had a pretty impressive past few months, regardless of any noise at Liverpool or anywhere else.
Indeed, Luis Diaz joined Bayern Munich in a £65.5m summer transfer and has been in fine form ever since. Having won the Premier League under Slot, he now looks likely to get his hands on more trophies in Germany, with 13 goals scored and a further seven assists in his first 22 games for the club.
While Diaz has certainly lived up to expectations on the pitch, he’s raised a few eyebrows with his recent activity away from it, recently embarking on a new career.
Luis Diaz Reveals Why He’s Gone into Music
Having left Liverpool just six months ago, the Bayern Munich star has released a song called ‘La Promesa’, which translates as ‘The promise’. The song has been created alongside Juanda Iriarte and Nelsen, who are two of the leading artists and exponents of champeta, which is an Afro-Colombian music genre and dance originating from the Caribbean coast.
In the video, the 29-year-old can be seen singing in his home while clips of goals he has scored for Barranquilla FC, Junior de Barranquilla, Porto, Liverpool and Bayern are spliced in. In one part of the song, the Colombian sings: “Thank you, God, For giving me the blessing of playing football.” While another lyric reads: “And being able to fulfil the promise I made to my parents And to my whole family, amen.”
“Music is one of my hobbies and a way of expressing myself from the heart, something I do with great love and respect for the art. This project was born out of passion, from enjoying the process and connecting with you from another place.”
Diaz Sends Message Alongside New Song
With the new song, Diaz also wrote a message, thanking both god and his family for their support. In full, he said: “Today I close out 2025 with gratitude. To God, for guiding every step, for giving me strength when the road got tough, and for never letting go, even when everything seemed impossible.
“To my family, thank you from the bottom of my heart. For always being there, through the sacrifices, the difficult times, and every dream that seemed distant. None of this would be real without you.
“Every effort has meaning when you can give back to your loved ones, even just a little, for everything they did to help you succeed. This song comes from the depths of my heart, from the most sincere gratitude.
“It’s the result of a long journey, of faith, work, and love. A journey where God has worked and where my family has fought with me and for me. verything I am, and everything I have today, is thanks to that.
Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes has told the club he wishes to leave this summer to join Arsenal, according to David Ornstein.
The Magpies have already sold Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £70m, while Sandro Tonali completed a £100m move to Tottenham Hotspur this week, with Eddie Howe looking to rebuild his squad.
But they have now been rocked by the wishes of the Brazil international, with the Gunners ready to make a mega bid to take him to north London.
Bruno Guimaraes Tells Newcastle He Wants to Join Arsenal
via Reuters
Guimaraes has just finished representing Brazil at the World Cup, where he enjoyed an excellent tournament but couldn’t help the five-time winners past the Round of 16, where they were eliminated by Erling Haaland’s Norway side.
But he has now informed Newcastle bosses that he wishes to leave this summer after the club failed to qualify for Europe, and he wants to join Arsenal in the summer window.
The Gunners have made it clear they would be willing to pay up to £60m for the 28-year-old, and are now preparing to make a formal offer. No club-to-club contact has been made yet, although Arsenal did have a verbal enquiry worth around £55m rejected by the Magpies earlier this month.
Manchester United have reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign midfielder Andrey Santos, according to David Ornstein.
The Red Devils have been in the market to bolster their midfield options this summer, but missed out on deals to sign their top targets Elliot Anderson and Matheus Fernandes, after they moved to Man City and Tottenham Hotspur for £116m and £85m respectively.
But INEOS have now secured their second midfield signing of the summer after agreeing a fee with Premier League rivals Chelsea for the Brazil international.
Man Utd Agree £50m Deal to Sign Andrey Santos
Santos, who has been described as ‘world-class’, has been a long-term target for INEOS, and a deal has now been struck worth a fixed fee of £48m, plus a further £2m in easily achievable add-ons for the 22-year-old.
Personal terms are already in place, and permission has now been given to the midfielder to undergo a medical before putting pen to paper on a long-term contract at Old Trafford. Chelsea have also secured a 10% sell-on clause as part of the deal.
In what was perhaps the most dramatic game of the 2026 World Cup so far, Argentina came from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2. Such as the drama, football legend Lionel Messi was seen in tears at the full-time whistle.
Egypt took the lead through Yasser Ibrahim as Messi missed a penalty to get his team back level. The side from Africa then saw one goal controversially ruled out before Mostafa Ziko scored to make it 2-0. At this moment, Argentina’s number 10 appeared to spark into life.
Cristian Romero pulled one back, and only four minutes later, Messi had levelled the scores. Enzo Fernandes would complete the remarkable comeback in the 93rd minute. Messi was in tears at the final whistle, later explaining his emotions to the press:
“I felt like I had let the team down at an important moment,” the 39-year-old said on his missed penalty. “But fortunately, fate had something special for me at the end, and I managed to score the equaliser.”
Thierry Henry Drops Verdict on Messi vs Egypt
Just one day prior, Cristiano Ronaldo had exited the pitch also in tears, as Spain beat Portugal to end his World Cup dreams for the final time. For Messi, this was a different kind of emotion, and former Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry provided some interesting insight into the scenes.
Speaking on Fox Sports, the pundit offered up an honest assessment of Messi’s tears. In a clip which has gone viral on numerous outlets, generating thousands of views and comments, he explained:
“First and foremost, he reminded us that he’s human, because he missed some penalties and four out of eight (at all World Cups). And then he reminds us again that he’s not human.
“I mean, I played with him, and with Leo, sometimes do not wake up the beast? That’s what happened, and I’ve seen it in training, closely. You know when you’re in training sometimes, and you know guys when when one of the coaches don’t want to call a foul or the ball was out, and then you score, and then Leo wanted that ball to be out and a foul, and then he goes, ‘The ball went out’, and the coach was like, ‘Stop complaining, because it can happen in the game.’
“Next thing you know, you look at his eyes and he switches, and he goes and get that ball. I was there. I witnessed it [in training at Barcelona]. He scores three goals in a row by scoring straight away, robbing the ball off you, scoring again, robbing the ball off you, scoring again, and he turns. He said, ‘Next time, call of foul’, and we all went. ‘Yeah, next time, call of foul’ because he’s just unstoppable. When he goes into that mood, he’s very difficult to stop.”
Egypt Manager Makes FIFA Messi Accusation After Argentina Defeat
“They want Argentina and Messi to stay in the World Cup for marketing. If they wanted Argentina to win, why invite other teams to participate? This match was clearly rigged, and the whole world witnessed it.
“We were better than Argentina, and football is unfair. We had a clear penalty that the referee didn’t award, and Ziko’s goal at the start of the second half was disallowed, even though it was perfectly legitimate.”
“The Egyptian Football Association cannot remain silent regarding the refereeing decisions witnessed during the match against Argentina as well as the failure to make appropriate use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Several key incidents raised serious concerns and left profound questions about the consistency and fairness of decisions that directly influenced the course of the game.
The statement concluded: “Every player who wears the Egyptian shirt, and every supporter who stands behind the team, deserves fairness, respect, and equal application of the laws of the game.”
Argentina will now face Switzerland in the quarter-finals as they look to continue their trophy defence, having won the World Cup in 2022.
