Latest Liverpool transfer news with an update on Darwin Nunez's future
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Liverpool are hoping to sell Darwin Nunez this summer
Liverpool are hoping to sell Darwin Nunez this summer
(Image: Getty Images)
Liverpool are hoping to sell Darwin Nunez to raise funds for a new No.9 this summer, it has been claimed. Arne Slot is keen to add another centre forward to his squad but would need to sanction a departure before he can sign someone in that position.
And Nunez is expected to be someone that is sacrificed. The 25-year-old has struggled for form since Slot's appointment last summer, having scored just seven times in 47 appearances in all competitions.
In fact, Nunez started just nine matches in the Premier League and fell behind Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz in the pecking order at Anfield. As a result, the Reds appear content to cash in on the Uruguayan.
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According to the Daily Mail, Liverpool are anticipated to turn their attention to signing a striker after completing a club record deal for Florian Wirtz. Slot's team are hopeful that Wirtz can sign the dotted line in the next week or so, and are then set to prioritise strengthening the No.9 position.
It's claimed that Nunez is set to be sold to create room and finances for the Reds to sign a new centre forward, with Hugo Ekitike of Eintracht Frankfurt monitored, while RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Julian Alvarez at Atletico Madrid have been linked.
Nunez signed for Liverpool in a deal worth up to £85m in June 2022 and the Reds are hoping to recoup a chunk of that transfer fee. There has been Saudi Arabian interest in the ex-Benfica man in the past, while Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen are among the others that have been tipped to sign him.
Earlier this season, Slot was forced to respond to suggestions that Nunez had been benched for financial implications. It was reported that Nunez wasn't playing in order to avoid triggering a further payment to Benfica of around £4.2m – and was something that Slot rubbished.
Despite this, it does still appear that Nunez's time at Liverpool is coming to an end. "I don't know exactly what is going to happen. One of the main strengths we had this season is that everybody accepted his role," Slot said before his side's Premier League finale against Crystal Palace.
"And his role sometimes could be to start every single game, hardly be taken off, sometimes be taken off. It could be sometimes not starting every single game, sometimes not playing hardly minutes."