Darwin Nunez will be officially confirmed as a Liverpool player this summer barring any unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances after the Reds agreed on a deal with Benfica.
The Uruguayan international will transfer to Merseyside on a £64m up front fee which could rise to £85m, according to Paul Joyce and Duncan Castles, should the particular conditions attached to £21m worth of add-ons be satisfied.
“Julian Ward, Liverpool’s director of football, has been in Portugal over the weekend to secure the transfer, which could make the 22-year-old the most expensive player in the club’s history,” the reporters wrote for The Times. “Liverpool will pay €75 million (£64 million) for Núñez with a potential further £12.8 million linked to appearances and £8.5 million based on the forward performing in a successful team.”
The former Penarol hitman is set to agree a six-year deal keeping him at the club until the summer of 2028, two years after Jurgen Klopp’s refreshed contract is due to expire.
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The obsession with reporting the potential transfer of Nunez as an £85m deal is somewhat bizarre given the clarity around the separation of up front fee and add-ons.
The fact that such claim have been used to support a narrative that Jurgen Klopp is a hypocrite (following his Paul Pogba comments) is even stranger still.
Given that fees well in excess of £64m were touted by some – indeed, Benfica’s ex-president even suggested he wouldn’t have let the striker leave Portugal for less than £125m – it seems a superb piece of business from our recruitment team, particularly given the increasing likelihood of Sadio Mane swapping Anfield for the Allianz Arena in the near futurte.