Street artist John Culshaw creates stunning mural of Reds star Luis Diaz

Liverpool street artist John Culshaw has just completed a stunning new mural of Reds star Luis Diaz.

The painting, on a wall of The Sandon Complex in Anfield, is the first of three around the stadium which John plans to create to celebrate Liverpool’s three biggest players of the season.

The trio will feature Signing of the Season, Player of the Season and the Fan’s Choice.

John chose Columbian winger Diaz, who played a key role in the Reds’ double trophy-winning 2021-22 campaign, as Signing of the Season.

He says the idea has been on the cards for a while, but it took a surprise contact from BBC’s The One Show to get it back on track.

“I was planning on starting the project at the beginning of this season but then I had other work commitments so I’d given up on it for a while,” he explains. “Then The One Show got in touch with me out of the blue and asked me if I had any projects coming up and that was what I needed to kickstart it back up again. 

“It was an opportunity I couldn’t let go by, so I spoke with Kate at The Sandon to see if she wanted to get involved and she did.”

Reds fan John says he decided on Diaz for the first of the three walls despite his current long-term injury.

After helping Liverpool to lift the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in his first season at Anfield, he was hit with a knee ligament injury in October that needed surgery and is likely to keep him side-lined until at least March.

“When I first chose Luis Diaz, he wasn’t injured and he’d been a fantastic new signing and player for Liverpool so I had it all planned out,” says John. “After he got a major injury I did think about changing the design, but then I thought I’d just go with it because he still deserves it and I think he’s definitely who most fans would have chosen.”

He intends to add the other two walls over summer, with the top player of this season plus one voted for by fans. The trio will then stay in place for a year, before being replaced each season.

John will choose which image to use which he says allows him to have more control over the work he does.

“It lets me paint what I want to paint rather than what other people are asking me to do,” he adds.

The finished Luis Diaz mural is an incredible likeness, and only took John three days to complete.

He picked the colour scheme – red with gold light beams – to match his other Sandon mural of Reds legend Stevie G.

“I had to go with something I knew I could do in a tight time frame that would still look impressive. I do a lot of portraits but people usually want them in black and white, so I thought I needed to push myself into more colour and see how I do. This one’s turned out really nice so I’m made up with it.”

He’s not heard yet whether the 26-year-old striker likes the end result, but he’s hoping it won’t be too long before he gets to see it.

“Mo Salah turned up and had his picture taken with his mural which was definitely a big buzz, and I’ve had a couple of Columbia news channels in touch about this one so hopefully somebody’s going to tell Luis Diaz soon and once he’s back at Anfield he might do the same.”