Liverpool have ‘positioned themselves’ in the race to sign Darwin Nunez on a free transfer with the Uruguayan keen to return to Anfield, according to reports.
The Reds offloaded Nunez to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal last summer as they raised €53m (£46m) from the deal after winning the 2024/25 Premier League.
Nunez was very inconsistent during his time at Anfield with the Uruguay international scoring 40 goals in 143 appearances in all competitions.
But he could now be in line for a return to Liverpool, if reports in Spain are to be believed, with Mundo Deportivo claiming that Liverpool, Newcastle United and Chelsea ‘are positioning themselves’ to sign the striker.
Alexander Isak, who spent much of the campaign unfit or injured, did not have the desired impact after joining Liverpool from Newcastle last summer.
And now Nunez is being put forward as a ‘low-cost option’ ahead of the summer transfer window as it has been reported ‘that the club [Al-Hilal] and the former Benfica player had reached an agreement in principle to terminate his contract by mutual consent, allowing him to leave the club for free’.
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It is understood that Nunez ‘would like to return to Liverpool’ – who recently appointed Andoni Iraola as their new manager – while Chelsea ‘are also interested’ and new head coach Xabi Alonso ‘could facilitate’ a transfer.
Newcastle, for their part, ‘are scouring the market for a striker for next season’ as they look to replace Nick Woltemade, who only signed at St James’ Park last summer.
Nunez became ‘useless to Liverpool’ at the end
Towards the end of his spell at Anfield, former MLS star and Venezuela international Alejandro Moreno insisted Nunez had become “useless to Liverpool”.
Moreno said on ESPN in March 2025: “What has happened with Darwin Nunez is that he has allowed the fact that he has not been scoring goals affect the rest of his game.
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“He can still give you the hold-up play, he can still give you runs in behind, he can still give you all of that, and he is not.
“He is now frozen by the fact that there is no confidence and so you start missing a player like say for example Roberto Firmino, who was not scoring a bunch of goals for Liverpool but was doing all sorts of other different things, in his player profile to link up the attack of Liverpool.
“Darwin Nunez hasn’t been capable of doing that.
“He hasn’t been capable of scoring goals with consistency and hence he becomes a player who is useless to Liverpool rather than useful.”
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