Liverpool have agreed to pay an initial transfer fee of €75million for Darwin Nunez after the Uruguay international chose the Champions League finalists over a host of other suitors – including Manchester United.
Nunez has accepted personal terms which will quadruple the powerful centre-forward's Benfica salary.
The Portuguese club expect to gross €100m on Nunez's move to Anfield once performance-related fees are factored in. According to a senior Benfica source, a first bonus payment of €5m will be achieved after the striker plays 10 times for Liverpool, with a further €10m due for 60 matches. The next €10m is also described as “an easy bonus”.
Liverpool are understood to have agreed to pay a relatively high percentage of Nunez's transfer fee as an initial instalment during overnight talks which concluded on Saturday morning. Benfica, meanwhile, must pay €10m of their profit on the deal to former club Almeria, plus substantial commissions to Nunez's prior and current representatives.
With incoming Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag identifying Nunez as his preferred option for a close-season rebuild, plus significant interest from Arsenal, Newcastle United, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Benfica had hoped to secure a club-record fee of €130m (£111m) for the 22-year-old. The Uruguayan, however, shut down the bidding war by insisting on a sale to Liverpool.
The Daily Record understands Jurgen Klopp and Virgil van Dijk played important roles in persuading Nunez to join, including direct conversations during April's Champions League quarter-final in which he scored twice. The Uruguayan is said to view Klopp as “the best coach in the world”, and was impressed that Liverpool's captain last month named him alongside Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland as one of the most difficult strikers he'd played against.
“Quick, direct, strong” in Van Dijk's view, the 1m87 Nunez scored 26 goals in 28 Liga Portugal appearances last season, adding another six in 10 Champions League games. Like Luiz Diaz – signed from FC Porto in January – his playing style appears suited to Liverpool's attack, to which he is being added as a replacement for Bayern-bound Sadio Mane.
Manchester United's characteristic hesitancy to complete a transaction is said to have cost Ten Hag what he expected to be a key element of the club's rebuild. Newcastle United explored the possibility of signing Nunez following the club's Saudi takeover with head of recruitment Steve Nickson asking Benfica last October if €50m would be enough to secure a winter-window deal. Nunez was also on Manchester City's list of alternatives had Erling Haaland elected to move elsewhere.
Nunez's transfer to Liverpool is subject to a medical, with the striker withdrawn from his national team's 5-0 defeat of Panama after negotiations were concluded with Benfica. He underwent knee surgery both as a teenager and last season, his first in Portugal following a club-record transfer from La Liga 2 side Almeria.
