One of the biggest football transfers in this year’s summer transfer window has finally got through as Liverpool announce the signing of 22-year-old Darwin Nunez from Benfica for a record-setting club fee. Having spent two seasons with the Portuguese side, the Uruguayan international bagged a total of 48 goals in 85 appearances across all competitions. To add, the striker has also earned eleven senior caps for his country, Uruguay, since making his international debut in 2019.
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Just last season, Nunez went onto score 26 goals in 28 league appearances while also finding the net six times in the Champions League. As an out and out #9, Nunez is a break from usual no.9’s Liverpool have previously favored. The 22-year old’s two Champions League quarter-final displays against Liverpool helped Klopp convince of his ability with the manager making a point to publicly praise the forward by saying, “Really good, really good. I knew before, of course, but he played pretty much in front of me with his tough battles with Ibrahima Konate”.
Nunez to Liverpool: The Deal Structure
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Liverpool will pay Benfica £64m upfront to sign Nunez with the deal going up to another £21m in add-ons. Those add-ons range from scoring goals to winning the Champions League or the Premier League and it is very likely that Benfica will get at least £75m from Liverpool as long as Nunez plays in the squad regularly.
With a sell-on clause in his deal from Almeria to Benfica, the Spanish club are due 20 percent of any profits Benfica make on the deal which means that Almeria will be due at least a minimum of £9m.
Nunez’s contract stands out as a significant long-term investment for Klopp’s squad as several of their current attackers are on deals that expire next season. With that in mind, Nunez has signed a long-term six-year contract that will keep the striker at Anfield until the end of the 2028 season. Reports suggest that Nunez will earn around £5m pounds a year in salary similar to what Diaz and Jota earn.
In Liverpool’s announcement video, the side from Merseyside confirmed that Nunez will wear number 27 in the 22-23 campaign at Anfield.
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Nunez on singing for Liverpool, “ As I say, I’ve watched quite a lot and it’s a very big club and I hope I can give everything that I’ve got in order to help the team. That’s one of the reasons why I came here to Liverpool – to win trophies and titles. I want to win a lot of trophies at Liverpool”.
With a new striker in their squad, means that Liverpool can pave the way for the potential departure of Sadio Mane who has been linked to Bayern Munich over the past few weeks.
[Featured Image Credit: Darwin Nunez]
Shashank Iyer