Liverpool 'reject extraordinary first offer' as 'deal' will be done for Klopp's 'handpicked' signing at '£75m'

Liverpool have reportedly ‘rejected’ Al-Hilal’s ‘first offer’ for Uraguay international Darwin Nunez, who is ‘expected’ to leave the Premier League giants.

The Reds paid an initial fee of around £64m to sign Nunez during the 2022 summer transfer window after he scored 34 goals in his 41 appearances for Benfica during the 2021/22 campaign.

The 25-year-old has impressed in flashes for Liverpool over the past couple of seasons, but he’s been infuriatingly inconsistent as the raw forward often spurns key chances.

Nunez has slipped in the pecking order following the arrival of head coach Arne Slot, who prefers Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.

It’s been claimed Nunez (or Federico Chiesa) could be used to boost Liverpool’s chances of signing Slot’s preferred targets in a swap deal, but the forward looks increasingly to move to the Saudi Pro League.

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Earlier this week, a report from Anfield Watch revealed Al-Hilal had made an ‘offer’ to sign Nunez, who has been picked out as a replacement for Brazil international Neymar.

The Liverpool forward is said to have ‘an incredible contract offer to consider’ from Al-Hilal with the Saudi Arabian outfit ‘ready to pay Nunez around £400k per week if he moves there’, which equates to £20.8m per year.

The report continued:

‘While we’re sure Nunez would prefer to carry on in European football, this would represent a gigantic leap in his wages. For comparison, no one has ever earned that much money playing for Liverpool. ‘Mo Salah is the closest, with his £350k-a-week deal currently close to that mark. But there’s no question that Nunez could not earn that kind of money anywhere else.’

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Now, a new report from Anfield Watch reveals Liverpool have ‘rejected an extraordinary first offer’ for Nunez, worth around £70m.

It is noted that the ‘expectation was that he would leave Anfield at the end of the season if Slot couldn’t get the best out of him’, but his spell at Liverpool ‘could be ending this month’.

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