Official: Liverpool sign Darwin Nunez for €100m

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 13 Jun 2022 08:58 BST
• 3 min read

Liverpool have secured the signing of Benfica and Uruguay forward Darwin Nunez, the Portuguese club have announced.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have paid a total of €100 million to acquire the services of the 22-year-old, who becomes the second star to sign from the Portuguese top flight in two transfer windows following the arrival of Luis Diaz in January.

Benfica put out a press release in the early hours of Monday confirming a deal "signed for a €75 million fee plus add-ons to reach a €100m package".

Nunez becomes the most expensive signing in Liverpool's history.

The move signals yet another high-profile transfer from the Primeira Liga to the Premier League in recent years, with Bruno Fernandes and Ruben Dias also making the switch over the past two-and-a-half years.

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Manchester United and Bayern Munich were also among the teams interested in signing Nunez, but the player has opted to join 2021/22 Premier League and Champions League runners-up Liverpool.

He has agreed a contract until 2028 and although the Premier League transfer window is open, Nunez will only officially become a Liverpool player on 1 July, as the deal won’t go through until then due to it being an overseas move.

A statement signing

Signed by Benfica from Spanish second-tier club Almeria in 2020, Nunez scored a respectable 14 goals and assisted a further 12 during his first season at the club, but he stepped it up during the 2021/22 campaign.

The forward contributed 38 goals and assists in 41 games in all competitions for Benfica, including six strikes in the club’s run to the Champions League quarter-finals. Nunez faced Liverpool in the last eight, and scored in both legs of the tie which prompted Virgil van Dijk to name him as one of the toughest opponents he’s ever faced.

Nunez becomes Liverpool’s club record signing, eclipsing the fee the Reds paid Southampton for the aforementioned Van Dijk in 2018, and the deal is the third worth €100m or more in the past 12 months after Manchester City’s addition of Jack Grealish and Chelsea’s acquisition of Romelu Lukaku.

The Uruguay international will join a frontline that includes the likes of Diaz, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, although the futures of the latter two are currently unknown.

Mane, in particular, could leave Anfield this summer, with Bayern Munich heavily interested in signing the Senegal international.

As for Nunez, he will become the first Uruguayan to play for Liverpool since club legend Luis Suarez when he makes his Reds debut.