Liverpool news: Darwin Nunez switch ‘may have just been confirmed’ by owner of former club | Football | Sport
Darwin Nunez’s highly-anticipated switch to Liverpool may have been confirmed early by the owner of his former club, Almeria. Turki Alalshikh hit Reds fans with a social media post suggesting that the Uruguayan’s announcement is imminent, as is the sell-on windfall that the Spanish side are set to receive.
Liverpool’s move for Nunez has progressed quickly over the past few days, and reports indicate that virtually all aspects of the deal have already been agreed. A Bola claim that Benfica have accepted the proposed fee, which could rise to an eye-watering £85million, and the player himself has green-lighted a move to Anfield despite being away on international duty with Uruguay.
Manchester United were reportedly weighing up whether to attempt a late hijack, but given the possibility of a costly bidding war and the player’s supposed preference for Champions League football, the Red Devils now seem set to back off.
And Almeria owner Turki Alalshikh suggested that the deal may already be done with a social media post showing Nunez mocked up in a Liverpool kit. Alalshikh has a vested interest in proceedings, given that his side are due to pocket 20 per cent of the final fee.
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Nunez scored 16 league goals for Almeria in the Spanish second division back in 2019/20, prompting Benfica to splash out around £20m to bring him to Portugal. Alalshikh and co may be set to pocket another £17m on top of that based on Liverpool’s reported £85m agreement.
The Uruguayan took a while to bed in at Benfica, but stepped up his goalscoring exploits last season when he impressively racked up 34 in all competitions. Jurgen Klopp has seemingly seen enough to try and smash Liverpool’s transfer record, which remains the £75m paid to Southampton for Virgil van Dijk.
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Locking down one of Europe’s hottest strikers in Nunez would be some way to respond to Manchester City’s move for Erling Haaland, who is expected to light up the Premier League next term. Klopp has wasted no time in taking action to offset the departure of Sadio Mane, with Bayern Munich set to come back with an improved offer after ‘insulting’ the Reds last time around.
Mohamed Salah is entering the final year of his contract at Anfield, so the Liverpool hierarchy have clearly acted on their cue to plan accordingly. Nunez is still just 22-years-old, and Klopp has an excellent track record of pushing promising attackers to the next level.
And the German may have had Nunez in his sights for a while. Klopp had an up close and personal look at the youngster when he scored home and away against the Reds in last season’s Champions League.
“I knew before, of course, but he played pretty much in front of me with his tough battles with Ibrahima Konate (in the first leg),” he said at the time. “He was physically strong, quick, was calm around his finish. Good, really good. I always say in these situations if he is healthy, it’s a big career ahead of him.”
