Luis Diaz is topic to a switch bid of over £37million from Liverpool. The discharge clause in his Porto contract stood at £67million.
It's tough to overstate simply how mind-boggling these sums of cash would have been to the stick skinny boy who grew up grime poor in one among Colombia's most disadvantaged areas.
As a teenager, Diaz would sit and watch the big trains loaded with coal thunder previous his residence village of Barrancas, carrying their cargo from the pits of Cerrejon sure for the coast after which to Europe.
This football-mad child was little question vaguely conscious of golf equipment with unique names comparable to Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton and Newcastle.
Truly enjoying for one among them, of going over to Europe and the English Premier League, should have appeared like some outlandish dream.
However it's a dream poised to turn into a actuality quickly sufficient with Diaz, at the moment at Porto, all of a sudden probably the most in-demand footballers in Europe and linked at numerous instances with all these English golf equipment.
Tottenham thought that they had their man however Liverpool have now hijacked that bid and are closing in on the signing.
His story is sort of outstanding. Youngsters from the La Guajira area, not removed from Colombia's border with Venezuela, the place he grew up merely haven't got the chance to see the world.
Many kids from the indigenous Wayuu individuals of which Diaz is a member do not develop up in any respect. Figures present that between 2008 and 2016, some 4,770 Wayuu kids died from malnutrition, left uncared for by the Colombian authorities.
So little marvel when Diaz, then aged 17, was found by Colombian legend Carlos Valderrama throughout trials for the Copa America of Indigenous Folks in 2015, the principle concern was how dangerously underweight he seemed.
John 'Pocillo' Diaz, who additionally coached the Colombia group for this match, instructed the BBC: 'For a second, we thought it will be very tough for him to carry out as a result of 'Lucho' appeared to have malnutrition issues.
'He was very skinny and misplaced the duels with different gamers. However regardless of that, he managed to face out amongst 400 candidates and make the 26-man squad.'
The Copa was held in Chile and the five-hour flight to a different nation was definitely an eye-opening expertise for {the teenager}, who'd by no means been overseas.
'You can see his eyes mild up with that have. Lucho would ask us if he might have the identical meal greater than as soon as. He was this humble.'
Colombia have been crushed 1-0 by Paraguay within the last however Diaz had scored twice through the match and there was no heading again to Barrancas without end.
Second division Barranquilla signed him up and instantly put him on a particular food regimen to realize 10kg and so be capable of compete towards stronger defenders.
Such was Diaz's promise at 18, the membership even created a brand new age group aspect to verify his abilities did not go to waste.
They beloved his humility, magnetic ball management and willingness to check out flicks and tips - Diaz idolised the Brazilian star Ronaldinho rising up. Becoming right into a group dynamic took a bit extra apply.
His coach at Barranquilla, Fernel Diaz, stated: 'Lucho can shoot from outdoors the realm, he's comfy with each toes, he can dribble, open defences up and rating targets. He can do the whole lot.'
Little marvel Atletico Junior, one of many foremost Colombian groups and in addition based mostly in Barranquilla, quickly snapped him up.
It was there Diaz grew to become an everyday within the Colombian prime division, scoring 13 league targets in 2018 and having fun with the primary of his 31 appearances for the Colombian nationwide group.
His debut, off the bench in a goalless draw with Argentina in New Jersey, was greeted with nice pleasure in his hometown, the place massive screens have been put up for locals to observe the sport collectively.
It did not take for much longer for curiosity from European golf equipment to come back his means.
He turned down Cardiff Metropolis in 2018 after which opted for Porto over Zenit St Petersburg the next 12 months, emulating his compatriots James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao, Fredy Guarin and Jackson Martinez by becoming a member of the Portuguese giants.
Carlos Queiroz, who was then Colombia supervisor and has in contrast Diaz to Portuguese legend Luis Figo, was influential in persuading him to signal for Porto.
Since arriving, his inventory has solely risen. Fielded on the left flank within the majority of video games and given free licence, Diaz scored 14 instances within the 2019-20 season and 11 targets the season after.
However the acceleration in curiosity from the Premier League specifically has come off the again of his Copa America exploits final summer season and a blistering present marketing campaign for Porto.
Colombia completed third on the Copa with Diaz scoring some eye-catching targets, together with an acrobatic overhead kick in a 2-1 loss to Brazil through the group stage and a shocking prime nook strike within the third-place play-off towards Peru.
Additional targets towards Argentina and Peru noticed him share the Golden Boot with Lionel Messi.
On this season's Champions League group stage, he netted each residence and away towards AC Milan however Porto did not fairly do sufficient to make it by way of in a troublesome group additionally that includes Liverpool and Atletico Madrid.
At 25, Diaz is mature sufficient to take the subsequent step and Premier League followers will see a tough buyer with the power to attain spectacular targets.
And due to his extraordinary journey, a humble character as properly.