Darwin Nunez transfer: Why Newcastle United face a scrap for £100m striker ‘tailor-made’ for Premier League

Darwin Nunez had only been a Benfica player for five weeks when his former manager Jorge Jesus made a bold prediction.

“All this decision making ability, finishing and speed. He was Benfica’s most expensive purchase and when there is no pandemic he will be our most expensive sale,” he said. Given the Portuguese giants had just sold Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid for £113m, it was some claim.

Standing 6ft 2ins, with technique, tactical acumen and aerial prowess aplenty, Nunez is the player on the lips of nearly every recruitment official in Europe. “The real deal,” is how one agent describes him to i.

He steps out at Anfield on Wednesday as the Benfica player with the undoubted ability to ruin quadruple dreams. Having unsettled Liverpool last week, he will find himself a marked man and seeing him up against a clued up Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip will be an intriguing sub-plot to a tie that – barring a major upset – is likely to see Liverpool progress.

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Many feel this is Nunez’s audition for a Premier League move in the close season, with Manchester United, City, West Ham, Arsenal and Newcastle all keen on the 22-year-old Uruguay international.

Former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is a big fan, having recommended him to Barcelona when Nunez was playing in the Spanish second division with Almeria. A record of a goal every other game prompted interest from Benfica, where his second season has been a revelation: 24 goals in 24 games – including a sensational hat-trick at the weekend against Belenenses – is a record that has prompted interest at the highest level.

What makes him so dangerous is his impressive change of pace, combined with an excellent first touch and lethal finishing ability. But what really appeals to those who have watched him frequently is his work off-the-ball, which combines graft with an innate ability to move into the right areas to cause problems to opposition defences.

One Premier League executive told i the player was “tailor-made” for English football.

Uruguay team-mate Luis Suarez is a big fan of Nunez (Photo: Getty)

“Whether you trawl through the data or watch him in the flesh, it’s pretty clear he’s an outstanding striker,” they said.

“In every metric he shapes up well. He’s good in the air, great decision maker, he’s mobile, tactically superb and embraces the fight. He has it all and if we could get him, we would. But he’ll be going to a Champions League club.”

And therein lies the problem for the host of clubs: Nunez is likely to baulk at offers that don’t come with the guarantee of trotting out in Europe’s elite club competition next term.

Newcastle will float the idea of making him the shining star of their new project – like they have done with Bruno Guimaeres – but if he has offers from Spain’s best (and Atletico Madrid were in attendance at the weekend), the decision may be taken out of their hands. Reports in Portugal claim super agent Jorge Mendes is looking to find him a club. He will not be short on offers.

Nunez’s career in numbers

Penarol:

• 2017: 1 app, 0 goals
• 2018: 13 apps, 1 goal
• 2019: 8 apps, 3 goals

Almeria

• 2019-20: 32 apps, 16 goals

Benfica:

• 2020-21: 44 apps, 14 goals
• 2021-22: 36 apps, 31 goals

International stats:

• Uruguay (2019-present): 9 apps, 2 goals

Jeremy Steele, the CEO of data company FC Analytics which advises clubs on recruitment, feels the case of Nunez illustrates why Premier League clubs need to shift their recruitment focus.

“The South American market is the one to watch in the post-Brexit environment and Nunez is the example that I’d cite,” he says.

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“Clubs in England could have got him for £10m directly from Penarol. Now it’s 10 times that. If you have good people in South America looking for players, it feels like it’s time to trust their judgement.”

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