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Feature
- 5 hours ago
Nunez axed by Liverpool: Slot decision saves Reds MILLIONS
Tom Weber
- Updated: 22 Apr 2025 14:05 BST
- 4 min read
News
Darwin Nunez hasn't started a game for Liverpool since early March, and there is a good financial reason for this, according to a report.
The Uruguay international's Liverpool career is fizzling out. To be sure, Nunez will leave the Reds as a Premier League winner, but his contribution to this seemingly inevitable success has been minute.
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STATS
Darwin Núñez
F (C), AM (L)
Liverpool
Darwin Núñez
F (C), AM (L)
Liverpool
Nunez has scored just seven goals across all competitions this term, five of them coming in the Premier League. In general, the 25-year-old has performed well below expectations since joining in 2022, and this is the end of the road for him.
Liverpool are looking to sell the striker this summer after already being close to offloading him in January. At the time, they ultimately decided against trading him to Saudi Arabia as they did not want to disrupt Arne Slot's team, but it will be a different story in the upcoming window.
Nunez will go down as one of the biggest flop signings in Liverpool history after they shelled out an initial €75 million to sign him from Benfica. Potential bonuses could take the deal to as high as €100m, but the Reds are making sure that they won't have to pay more than they absolutely need to.
Slot won't start Nunez again
Indeed, it is likely due to these bonuses that Nunez hasn't started a game for Liverpool since a match against Southampton on March 8. As A Bola points out, giving the striker another starting berth would force the Anfield club to pay Benfica an additional €5m.
€10m have already been paid out in add-ons. An initial €5m was due after Nunez made his first 10 starts for the Reds, and another €5m after his next 25 starts.
Nunez's counter of playing from the beginning now stands at 59, and Liverpool would be forced to pay another €5m should he reach 60. The Portuguese outlet, therefore, posits that his lack of action recently is because the Premier League giants want to save money.
Of course, there is no definitive proof that this is really why Arne Slot hasn't started Nunez lately, but it certainly seems a plausible explanation in the era of Profit and Sustainability Rules, where every penny counts.
With the Premier League title pretty much wrapped up, there is no need to start Nunez again, so it wouldn't come as a shock if the misfiring 25-year-old were forced to sit on the bench in the Reds' final five games.
