'It might be true' - Liverpool boss Slot responds to bizarre Nunez theory

Tom Weber

Updated: 25 Apr 2025 09:16 CDT
4 min read

Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Liverpool, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

Arne Slot has addressed the speculation surrounding Darwin Nunez amid reports that he has been axed to avoid paying his former club additional bonuses.

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The Uruguay international is expected to leave Liverpool this summer after failing to live up to the hype since his arrival in 2022. On the orders of then-manager Jurgen Klopp, the Reds had shelled out a whopping €75 million to sign Nunez from Benfica.

STATS

Darwin Núñez

F (C), AM (L)

Liverpool

Darwin Núñez

F (C), AM (L)

Liverpool

42

Games
7

Goals
5

Assists

Bonuses could take the overall price of the player to as high as €100m, and Liverpool have indeed already been forced to pay an additional €10m on top of the initial €75m due to Nunez having made over 35 starts for the club.

However, on the whole, the 25-year-old has been a huge disappointment for the Anfield club. His erratic finishing played a part in Liverpool's title challenge faltering last season, and his impact this term has been minimal.

Therefore, it didn't come as a major surprise when a report from Portugal posited an interesting theory on Nunez earlier this week, suggesting that the player has been axed by Arne Slot for financial reasons.

Slot rubbished Nunez claims

A Bola asserted that Nunez hasn't started for Liverpool since early March because another berth from the beginning would take his overall number to 60, which would trigger another bonus payment of €5m.

Given that Nunez has no future at Liverpool and is expected to be sold this summer, it seemed a plausible explanation, especially in the age of Profit and Sustainability Rules, where every expense is heavily scrutinised.

However, speaking to the media ahead of Liverpool's potentially title-deciding clash with Tottenham, Slot dismissed this theory by claiming that this is a matter for sporting director Richard Hughes, who has no influence on team selection.

"Do you always believe what journalists say? Not always? Me neither," Slot said. "Sometimes you should, sometimes you shouldn't believe what is written about players. It's completely new to me.

"Normally, a sporting director is judged on players coming in, the last, last, last thing he would do is tell me if you play him, it would cost us this much. He'd never, never do that. He never interferes with the lineup."

Still, Slot strangely admitted that the theory 'might be true' after all, but that it couldn't be blindly believed because of the source. "It might be true, but if a journalist says it, we have to balance it."

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