Liverpool are on the verge of signing Darwin Nunez from Benfica for a fee that could rise to a club record £85m.
The Reds have been locked in talks with the Portuguese side over the structure of the agreement having made the 22-year-old Uruguayan their chief target to replace Sadio Mane in attack.
Benfica have been consistent in their demand of a €100m overall package for Nunez. They had initially wanted €80m up front and €20m in bonuses, figures with which Liverpool were reluctant to do business.
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However, Liverpool sporting director Julian Ward has now helped thrash out a compromise which will see Liverpool spend £64.1m (€75m) in a set fee, with a possible £12.8m (€15m) in appearance-related add-ons and £8.5m (€10m) depending on team success.
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But before the deal was virtually done, Nunez had already caught the attention of many connected to the Reds following his impressive season, where he scored 34 goals in 41 matches for Benfica.
Jurgen Klopp
One of those goals that Nunez scored was in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool. After that match in Portugal in April, which the Reds won 3-1, Klopp was full of praise for the Uruguay international.
“An extremely good looking boy, eh? He is a really good boy,” said Klopp. “He played in front of me battling against [Ibrahima] Konate. He was calm for the finish.
“He is good, really good. If he stays healthy, he has a big career ahead of him”.
Diogo Jota
More recently, Diogo Jota was asked about the prospect of Nunez moving to Liverpool. The 25-year-old was on international duty with Portugal when faced with the question.
"I don’t know, I’m focused on the national team," Jota said, per Mais Futebol (h/t Sport Witness ). "The market will move, I have no idea what the signings could be.
"I had the opportunity to play against him and he’s a good player, but I can’t say anything else at the moment."
Virgil van Dijk
Speaking to Rio Ferdinand before the Champions League final with Real Madrid last month, Virgil van Dijk name-dropped Nunez as one of his toughest opponents, along with four other forwards.
Van Dijk said: "I’ve played against Sergio Aguero, who was obviously unbelievable. (Lionel) Messi, arguably the best player in the history of football, in my opinion.
“(Kylian) Mbappe is different, quick... (Erling) Haaland, also Darwin (Nunez). He’s a bit similar, very direct and quick, tall and strong. It’s quite difficult to play against those guys.”
Luis Suarez
Former Liverpool star Suarez revealed he once told Barcelona to sign his international team-mate when he was at Almeria, but the La Liga club thought he was too young at the time.
"I recommended Darwin to Barcelona when he was at Almeria," Suarez revealed in an interview with Gerard Romero on Twitch. "I have 15 years of international experience. I know a thing or two about forwards. And I told them, ‘pay attention to this one, he’s very good, he shows interesting things’.
"They told me he was at Almeria and that he was too young. But instead of paying now €80m, €90m or €100m, they would’ve paid €15m or €20m and have him there as a substitute."
