Luis Diaz became a must-have in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) with his impressive start to the 2024/25 Premier League campaign with Liverpool.
He accumulated a high points return by scoring in the Reds’ first six games of the season, but that fire appears to have evaporated.
Diaz has not scored for the last three matches and only delivered an assist in the recent 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
He’s just not being able to deliver in the final third or finish off chances properly anymore. On top of that, there is also the threat of competition for that left-wing role.
New signing Federico Chiesa might be far away from competing, but Cody Gakpo’s performances have won over Arne Slot.
Cody Gakpo is key player for us. For me, he is a regular starter.
Arne Slot
Maybe he’s not starting every game, but he’s started on a regular basis and he’s in a tough competition with Luis Diaz… so that’s normal at a club like Liverpool.
The Liverpool manager recently hinted towards a desire to give more playing time to Gakpo, branding him as a ‘regular starter’ and indicating the’ll start more matches if able to keep outperforming Diaz.
This has sparked the debate among many FPL managers on whether it’s finally time to remove Diaz from their teams.
The Colombian winger is still in the teams of over 27% of the FPL managers, but patience is wearing thin.
Even though Liverpool have a relatively favorable fixture list ahead, with next three matches against Brighton, Aston Villa and Southampton, Diaz is not a nailed-on starter anymore.
He was benched in two of their last three league games and that instability has caused nervousness around his potential in FPL.
Diaz might already have 60 points, but there isn’t enough proof his points return will consistently be this high.
That is mostly because of him not being a sure-starter like Mo Salah, and also because a slight drop-in form.
Ironically, even though Diaz and Gakpo play in the same position, the former is actually branded as a forward in FPL.
There is no chance one can directly swap the two players in an FPL team. But there are quite a few decent options in disposal in that £7.5m-£8m price-range.
An ideal like-for-like option is Brentford man Bryan Mbeumo (£7.7m), who has scored eight goals in nine games.
Not just that, but he’s Brentford’s penalty taker and their focal point in attack – quickly becoming a must-have in an FPL team.
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison (£7.6m) can be another solid option in that range. He has six goal contributions (two goals, four assists) for Spurs and is heavily involved in their attacks, as well as being on set-piece duty.
The Lilywhites have two home matches up next (against Aston Villa and Ipswich Town) and Maddison’s four goal contributions have come in home games.
There are also cheaper available options to replace Diaz with.
Noni Madueke is now a regular starter at Chelsea and represents good value-for-money atؚ £6.5m, having already accumulated 46 points with four goals and an assist in nine games.
Alejandro Garnacho can be a solid pick at £6.2m due to Manchester United’s new manager bounce.
With Everton having a decent schedule ahead, Dwight McNeil (three goals, three assists) represents a tempting pick at £5.8m.
Because of the sheer competition for that left-wing role at Liverpool and Slot’s adoration for Cody Gakpo, it’d be smarter not to rely on Diaz to get you major points anymore and potentially replace him with someone who can consistently deliver.