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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Arthur Ferridge

Liverpool seal shock first summer signing in £34.5m transfer hijack with medical already complete

Liverpool have succesfully hijacked Newcastle’s move to sign Osasuna’s Victor Munoz.

The 22-year-old winger caught the eye of various clubs across Europe with his performances this season. A product of both Real Madrid and Barcelona’s academies, he signed with Osasuna in summer of 2025 and has since tallied eight goal involvements in 34 La Liga appearances.

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Newcastle were the first Premier League side to move for Munoz, who is presently representing Spain at the World Cup, but Liverpool have pipped them to the punch.

The Reds have triggered the player’s €40million (£34.6m) release clause, per The Athletic, and flown out club doctors to conduct his medicals at Spain’s World Cup training base in Atlanta.

Victor Munoz keeps good company (Getty)
Victor Munoz keeps good company (Getty)

He will become the first new signing of the Andoni Iraola era, and his arrival will check a key box in the squad. Liverpool were known to be keen on signing attacking reinforcements in this window after Mohamed Salah’s departure and Hugo Ekitike’s Achilles injury, which is expected to rule him out of around half of the 2026/27 campaign.

Osasuna stand to net a considerable profit on Munoz, whom they signed for just €5m (£4.3m) barely a year ago. Real Madrid retain a 50 per cent sell-on clause, though, which will see them receive €20m (£17.2m).

Osasuna are renowned for a direct, attacking brand of football, which may translate well to the style Iraola will try to impose at Anfield.

Munoz picked up just two Spain caps before being called up to Luis de la Fuente’s World Cup squad, but he did not feature in their opening fixture - a goalless draw with Cape Verde.

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