Darwin Núñez

[Mr Pink]

he comes across as a really decent human being.

[Kenneth]

[BigChief]

So we've just lost Diaz Nunez Jota in the space of a few weeks. Our league winning strike force. We definitely need Isak now.

[Doc_Piptorious]

He was like Batman that day.

.

[red g]

got out of that one realtively unscathed. Thank god/Mohammed for Saudi.

[Irishnev]

[ame="https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/status/1953377860422336647"]https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/status/1953377860422336647[/ame]

Supposed to have appearance related add ons + sell on clause and madly it represents a “book profit” from when we bought him

Joyce saying attacking areas in his message as well - Isak + 1

[Yozza]

Confirmed - all over the BBC too

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cz60d2nn5z8o

[frank the tank]

Adios Darwin.

Newcastle missed a trick by not getting him in part ex for Isak imo. Elliott too.

[Yozza]

Farewell Darwin Nunez, the striker Liverpool fans really, really wanted to see succeed


Bad misses and superior finishes. After three years of fighting the fight for Liverpool to varying degrees of success, Darwin Nunez is not just leaving Anfield but the European football scene entirely.

The 26-year-old is set for a medical with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal after the two clubs agreed a deal worth €53million (£46m, $62m) plus add-ons. It means Nunez will leave right in the middle of what can often prove to be a striker’s peak years, having scored 40 goals and provided 22 assists in 143 appearances for Liverpool. He was fantastically entertaining to watch… but not always just for Liverpool fans.

It would usually start with a swing and a miss — and then the chants would come. “S*** Andy Carroll, you’re just a s*** Andy Carroll!”. Nunez’s struggles with the language barrier early on at Liverpool are well documented but he always seemed to understand what that meant. Whether he was being targeted from an away end at Anfield or all four stands when Liverpool were away, those lyrics seemed to have a profound impact on the Uruguayan.

During a League Cup match at Bournemouth in November 2023, Nunez, in his second season at Liverpool, came on in the 61st minute and was greeted with a rendition of that particular song by the home crowd. Nine minutes later, in a game during which the rain from Storm Ciaran had blown in sideways, Nunez cut in and bent a shot into the top corner to score a vengeful winner.

Bournemouth fans were not the first or last to learn that taunting Nunez often prompted his best work. Abuse was the precursor to many a payback goal.

“Nunez, Nunez, Nunez” was Liverpool fans’ riposte. He never got a chant longer than his own surname, which was consistently mispronounced, and he didn’t need one. His name was first shouted at him like that after he scored against Manchester City when Liverpool won the Community Shield at the King Power Stadium at the start of the 2022-23 season. Nunez and the fans, who would point at him as they called his name, bonded right from the off.

But if Liverpool fans didn’t know that Erling Haaland, who joined Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund in the same summer, was a different beast, they would soon find out.

Even though their head-to-head battle began with Nunez scoring and Haaland misfiring in Leicester, the former was at a loss as soon as the comparisons began with the Norwegian.

Almost as soon as Nunez joined from Benfica for £85m in June 2022, a month after Liverpool almost ended the season winning every trophy on offer, he was pitted against Haaland. It was billed as a new sub-rivalry within an ongoing feud as Jurgen Klopp continued to look for inventive ways to overthrow Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City dynasty. But Nunez did not arrive as the finished article. Klopp, who had pushed so hard to sign him, often looked frustrated trying to help his striker find those finishing touches.

Nunez’s up-and-downness could be draining to watch but Liverpool always clung on in expectation of his next moment of magic. When it arrived in whatever way, shape or form, they would worship it.

On his day he was the backheel finisher Real Madrid did not see coming in the Champions League. But he could also make a bulldozing run, get around the goalkeeper, see an open goal glaring at him and somehow hit the post, as he did in the Europa League against Toulouse.

Ryan Gravenberch scored the rebound to save his blushes on that particular occasion, but Nunez still knowingly dropped to his knees with head in hands. He was aware he was battling an army of social media trolls who sat waiting to laugh at him. It was harsh and led Nunez to avoid social media entirely. He was persistent, though, and demonstrated an impressive capacity to bounce back.

For some, he will be remembered more for those big misses, like the one against Ajax in the Champions League during his first season when he hit the post from five yards out, or at Luton Town when from even closer he scooped the ball up and over like he was trying to spoon cereal out of a bowl.

For many Liverpool fans he will be remembered as a Premier League champion, as someone who was injured but went hurdling onto the pitch faster than anyone when, in Klopp’s final campaign, Liverpool won the League Cup.

Liverpool have been mocked by rival fans for their use of “this means more” as a tagline. But when Nunez scored it didn’t just mean more, it meant everything. Every fan wanted to see him reach the heights they believed him capable of. And when he celebrated with the kind of passion that could leave advertising boards broken, they did too.

He would kiss his wrist after every goal, reminiscent of his compatriot and former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez. When Nunez joined there was hope he could emulate Suarez, who scored 82 goals in 133 games for the club — and he did get off to the perfect start.

A week after winning the Community Shield, Nunez came off the bench for his Premier League debut on the opening day of the 2022-23 season to score and then assist Mohamed Salah in a 2-2 draw at Fulham. The next week, in his first home league game, he emulated Suarez for the wrong reasons when losing his cool and headbutting Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen, leaving Liverpool a goal and a player down.

Perhaps his first two Premier League games sum him up best.

Evolution became an overused term when discussing the man named Darwin but ultimately Liverpool under Arne Slot moved on without him. Last season, he totted up as many yellow cards (eight) as goal contributions (five goals, three assists) in 30 Premier League games. He started 17 league matches, his last coming against Southampton in March.

Watching Nunez was like a sport within a sport and you had to be patient, especially when watching him time a run. Only Dominic Calvert-Lewin (70) was flagged offside more often than Nunez (62) among all Premier League players in the past three seasons.

And while Liverpool fans might be left feeling short-changed, Nunez did deliver some all-time memorable moments. His two identical finishes to earn Liverpool a comeback win in stoppage time against Newcastle United in August 2023 showed him at his best. A goal scored off his backside when rushing at Sheffield United goalkeeper Ivo Grbic in April 2024 showed him at his hungriest. His stoppage-time brace at Brentford in January helped earn Liverpool a dramatic 2-0 win during their race for a 20th top-flight title.

In fact, he scored (nine) and assisted (nine) more times in the final 15 minutes of games than he managed during any other time period. He was a roll of the dice Liverpool can no longer look to. But in selling him they could be about to invest that money into the signing of Alexander Isak, which would be a great parting gift.

Nunez scored five times in pre-season, the last of them at the Kop end of Anfield in a 4-1 win against Athletic Club on Monday, tapping at the club badge as his final celebration in red. With his shaved head and more than a hint of flair, he also assisted a Harvey Elliott goal.

Like all good showmen, he has left Liverpool fans wanting more — but for Nunez that was always the problem.

[SB]

I wish him every success over there.

[Buzzo]

He did provide some amazing memories.

[ame]https://twitter.com/optajoe/status/1953393278688043165[/ame]

[RedReet]

He did provide some amazing memories.

https://twitter.com/optajoe/status/1953393278688043165

On the pitch or on the forums?

[lickedlollipop]

Adios Darwin.

Newcastle missed a trick by not getting him in part ex for Isak imo. Elliott too.

Probably will join them on loan in January or smth

[Corndog]

Never really fit the style.

Not a disaster, not a success.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Never really fit the style.

Not a disaster, not a success.

As yes, The Nunez shot. Schrodinger's lesser known thought experiment.