Transfers

EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool ‘happy’ to sell Nunez in big money Saudi Pro League summer transfer

byFootball Insomnia

March 28, 2025

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EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool ‘happy’ to sell Nunez in big money Saudi Pro League summer transfer

Darwin Nunez, The Transfers Podcast, Liverpool — © IMAGO

Liverpool are bracing themselves to receive a big proposal for Darwin Nunez this summer from the Saudi Pro League, The Transfers Podcast understands.

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Arne Slot’s side rebuffed an offer from Saudi Arabia in January for Nunez but they would be ‘happy’ for a renewed approach this summer to cash in on their misfiring forward.

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Speaking on The Transfers Podcast, Duncan Castles revealed that Saudi Arabia are aiming to emulate their transfer for Jhon Duran in January with more bids this summer for younger ‘established names’, leading to interest in Nunez as well as Victor Boniface and Viktor Gyokeres.

“Liverpool would be happy if the Saudis came in and would encourage a move for Nunez. They would like to get some kind of significant return on the initial €75 million that they paid Benfica three years ago,” Castles said on the latest episode of The Transfers Podcast.

“From the Saudi perspective, [Nunez] still has that ability to be a name within the Saudi game and to deliver goals with his physicality. Interestingly, I’m told that his girlfriend, Lorena Manas, who is the ex-wife of former Barcelona player Aleix Vidal, has been working with agents to explore opportunities elsewhere.

“So it looks like this is both sides pushing against the same door with Nunez, or at least Nunez’s partner, encouraging him to look for a move and Liverpool happy to sell the player with a strong, affluent potential buyer in Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi Pro League targeting European superstars to avoid ‘spending stupidly’

Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr are understood to have made a number of bids for Nunez in January, with the largest totalling around €70m, but Liverpool were reluctant to weaken their squad mid-season despite the striker being in advanced talks over a move.

Nunez was rumoured to have been offered a package worth around €35m annually, with Castles describing Saudi Arabia’s desire to ‘avoid the rest of the world laughing at you’ for spending money ‘stupidly’.

I think it underlines the evolution in what the Saudi Arabians are doing with the money,” Castles said. “They don’t want to be seen to be using, what is a bigger pool of cash than anyone else has in the sport, stupidly. That’s why they’re targeting players who they feel will deliver immediately in the league and will settle in the league.

“The idea is if you’re gonna make these big investments in the market, make them effectively. Don’t have the rest of the world football laughing at you because you’ve spent hundreds of millions of euros on a player who only bothers to turn out on the field a few times and then has to be paid off to leave.

“They want to be getting the hit rate on these transfers correct, while taking some of the top talent out of European football and just increasing their influence on the world sport.”