Ex-France international Desailly believes that Chelsea should be in the market for a 26-year-old that still boasts plenty of potential, telling FootItalia: "I would actually recommend Nunez for Chelsea. He’s a very good player, a smart player – he just needs the right environment to perform. When Liverpool identified his potential they knew what they had statistically.
"But when you start on a bad note, the confidence disappears and the consideration from those around you follows. It’s like Dennis Bergkamp going to Inter Milan – things went completely wrong. Or Roberto Carlos in his early days, shooting the ball into the stands. The confidence wasn’t there. That’s what happened to Nunez at Liverpool. But the quality is still there. He’s at Al-Hilal now and has scored around six goals in 16 matches – not bad at all."
"I’m pleased to see him wanting to come back to European football – it shows money isn’t everything. A club like Chelsea, or the new Manchester United, would be best for him. He needs to be surrounded by established, confident players who know they’re going to play every weekend and who will give him the ball on the first intention. That’s the small detail – when he makes a run, he needs to get the ball immediately. Otherwise he loses confidence quickly.
"We had something similar with Frank Lampard – magnificent player, but sometimes he would look for another option instead of playing the ball first-time to the striker. You could see the strikers losing their rhythm. Nunez needs that immediate ball. But he’s a quality player and he’s still young enough."