Darwin who? Benfica a much better team after €100m Nunez sale

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 8 Nov 2022 23:13 GMT
• 4 min read

Darwin Nunez may have been Benfica's top scorer last season, but they could hardly be missing him less after selling him to Liverpool for €100 million in the summer.

Darwin was impressive for Benfica last term, top-scoring with 26 league goals and 34 in all competitions, six of which came in the Champions League. Goals home and away against Liverpool caught Jurgen Klopp's eye… as did his physical appearance.

"Extremely good-looking boy, huh?" Klopp effused at the time. "And a decent player as well so I've got really good, really good stuff to say. I knew it before, of course, but he played pretty much in front of me with his tough battles with Ibou Konate."

READ: Darwin Nunez Liverpool xG not as good as Klopp claims

Benfica's Champions League campaign ended at that quarter-final stage against the Reds last season, and they only finished third in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, 17 points off Porto's title-setting pace. In the domestic cup - the Taca de Portugal - they were dumped out in the fifth round.

While Darwin has split opinion at Anfield - he has seven goals, two assists and one head-butt to his name so far - Benfica did well to squeeze €100m out of Liverpool either way, not least because they have reinvested it so well.

Goncalo Ramos was already on their books, but he has been Darwin's literal replacement, leading the line in the Uruguayan's absence. He has repaid his coach Roger Schmidt with 12 goals already, and 10 goal-involvements from 10 games in the league, which Benfica top, eight points clear of Porto.

Shrewd transfer business

The Eagles spent just €15.3m of the Darwin money on David Neres from Shakhtar Donestk, and the Brazilian has been a fine addition playing to the right of Ramos in Schmidt's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, chipping in with six goals and eight assists, three of which have been for the young striker.

But perhaps their best move in the transfer market has been the €12m acquisition of the young Argentine Enzo Fernandez from River Plate. Julian Weigl is a fine ball-playing midfielder, but could get overrun at times last term. Now on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, his replacement has been bossing games.

Fernandez is nominally a defensive midfielder, but he has averaged 10 progressive passes and five shot-creating actions per game and made his full Argentina debut in September. Manchester United and Liverpool have already been linked with move barely halfway into his first Benfica season.

READ: The 20 Argentina youngsters with the most potential

"He runs a lot and can also make a difference from set pieces," Portuguese journalist Sofia Oliveira told CNN recently. "He's a very complete midfielder and Argentina will have a world class player on their hands if everything goes well."

Two successful arrivals do not necessarily a good team make, but Benfica are a better all-round side this season.

They ran into Liverpool in Europe last term after edging Barcelona in Group E to join Bayern Munich in the knock-outs; this year they topped a Group H which included Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, and few would put money on Liverpool coming out on top if they were to meet at the same stage this season.

And that in itself speaks volumes about how far Benfica have come since selling Nunez. Their evolution has continued apace without Darwin being around.