Darwin Nunez’s future at Liverpool has been brought into question on multiple occasions this term.
The Uruguay international has once again failed to live up to the expectations of fans, which has left the Anfield outfit in a bit of a pickle.
Indeed, if all the add-ons in the deal for Nunez are met, he’d become the club’s record signing, but with the way things have panned out over the last few years, Virgil van Dijk holds that crown, for now at least.
With this in mind, Liverpool will likely want to recoup the vast majority of the money they spent on the attacker to sanction his move away from Merseyside.
Darwin Nunez pictured being held by Arne Slot after Liverpool's defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
This is one of the reasons why Liverpool could be holding out for a bigger bid, even though clubs from across Europe, as well as in Saudi Arabia, are all interested in acquiring Nunez’s services.
Al-Hilal CEO says that they won’t buy players who are just in it for the money amid Darwin Nunez links
One of the teams who have been reported to be in advanced negotiations with the attacker are Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal.
Both Nunez and Luis Diaz have been linked with moves to the Saudi Pro League amid their uncertain futures at Liverpool.
However, while speaking to the media at the Club World Cup in quotes relayed by BBC Sport, Al-Hilal CEO Esteve Calzada shared the following about any bids they’re going to make this summer.
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“We are targeting the biggest players,” he said.
“We are very ambitious, but we need to see hunger from the player himself and the transaction needs to work out both ways.
“The only thing we’ve been trying to remind players and agents is that yes, we are from Saudi, but we don’t print notes here!
“My role as CEO is to make sure we run the club efficiently, so that we can have the biggest budget possible to have big players, but not at any cost.
“That’s why sometimes we basically walk away from negotiations, because we still want players extremely keen on coming, and not only looking for the money.”
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Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool need to start selling their players as soon as possible
With the amount of changes that look set to take place at Liverpool this season, it feels like things need to speed up in terms of departures.
One of the last areas that Slot needs to upgrade within his team is the striker, and unless he can offload some of his players, such as Federico Chiesa, a move of this nature won’t be possible.
A number of Liverpool’s first-team squad have been linked with moves away this summer but the area that seems like it’ll change the most is their attacking line.
As mentioned, Nunez and Diaz have been heavily linked with Anfield exits since the transfer window opened but at the moment, neither are in concrete negotiations to exit.
Only time will tell what the future holds but if the Saudi Pro League clubs pull out of the race for Nunez this summer, it’ll be much harder for Liverpool to find a potential suitor.