According to Goal, Liverpool have surged ahead of their competitors in the race to sign Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez. The Reds are ready to break their club record to bring the SL Benfica hitman this summer.
Nunez, 22, is of interest to several top sides across Europe, including Manchester United, owing to his superb form for the Portuguese giants across the 2021/22 season.
However, Nunez won’t come cheap as SL Benfica value their star forward highly, which means that Liverpool, should they firm up their interest and proceed with the talks, will have to break their transfer record, which they set while bringing in Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January 2018. Back then, the Reds shelled out 75 million pounds up front to appease the Saints into releasing their star centre-back.
Nevertheless, as per the report, Nunez is Liverpool’s top target to add to their attack this summer – now that Divock Origi has left the club and Sadio Mane is likely to. Origi’s contract is up at the end of the season, and the Belgian is confirmed to be leaving the club; it is understood that he will sign with Serie A champions AC Milan on a free transfer.
Mane, meanwhile, is the subject of interest from German champions Bayern Munich, with Liverpool already having rejected the Bavarians’ initial offer for the Senegalese forward. Additionally, Takumi Minamino, Jurgen Klopp’s utility man in attack, is free to leave the club should an appealing offer comes.
Nunez signed for Benfica in the summer of 2020 for a club-record fee in the region of 24 million euros; the Uruguayan had caught the eye of several top European clubs with his performances as Spanish second-division side UD Almeria the season before.
He scored 16 goals in 44 appearances in his first season at the club but broke out onto the scene the season after, scoring 34 times in 44 appearances, including 26 in 28 league games which won him the top-scorer award in the Portuguese top-flight.
