Juventus have taken their first real step into the summer market, and it leads straight to Saudi Arabia.
According to Sky Sport, the Turin club have made a preliminary inquiry to Al-Hilal for Luis Nunez, testing the waters over a move that would drag the forward back to Europe barely a year after he left Liverpool. At this stage it is information-gathering, not a bid. Who is available, at what cost, and on what terms? Those are the questions on the table in Riyadh.
The answers will not be cheap.
Al-Hilal paid around €53 million to sign Nunez last summer, tying the 26-year-old down until June 2028. Any deal would have to account for that investment and the length of his contract, and Juventus know it. Before they even think about advancing talks, the Bianconeri are running the numbers. Transfer fee, wages, amortisation, resale value – every euro weighed against a single, brutal condition: Champions League qualification.
No Champions League, no deal. It is that simple in Turin.
A Year of Contrasts in the Gulf
Nunez’s first season in Saudi Arabia has veered between prominence and oblivion.
He started as a key piece in Al-Hilal’s attack, featuring regularly in the league during the first half of the campaign. Sixteen league appearances, six goals. Across all competitions, 24 matches, nine goals, five assists. Respectable numbers, and enough to suggest he had adapted to the new environment and the demands of the project.
Then everything changed over the winter break.
In a blunt technical decision, coach Inzaghi left Nunez out of Al-Hilal’s list of eight registered foreign players for domestic competition. One stroke of a pen, and the €53 million forward found himself frozen out of league action for the rest of the season. No injury, no scandal, just a tactical and strategic call that pushed him to the margins.
From regular starter to spectator.
He is now completely ineligible for domestic league matches, reduced to a specialist for continental nights. It is a brutal illustration of how quickly status can shift in the Gulf projects, where squads are stacked and patience is thin.
Continental Stage, European Shop Window
If the league door has slammed shut, Asia’s biggest stage remains open.
Nunez is still registered for the AFC Champions League Elite, and he has used that platform to remind Europe what he can do. Six appearances, three goals, one assist. Not an explosion, but enough to show a sharp edge in the penalty area and a willingness to carry the fight on the nights that matter most.
His next test is already circled: Al-Hilal against Al-Sadd in the round of 16 on April 13. For the club, it is a step in their push for continental glory. For Nunez, it could be something more personal – an audition.
Every touch, every run, every finish will be watched not only in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but also in the directors’ boxes of Europe. If this is to be his final act in the Gulf, he will want it to look like a statement, not a fade-out.
Juventus Weigh the Gamble
Back in Italy, Juventus are caught in their own drama.
They sit fifth in Serie A on 57 points, one behind Como, locked in a tight top-four battle with seven games to go. The margin for error is thin, the financial implications enormous. Champions League football would unlock the revenue and prestige required to chase players in Nunez’s bracket. Miss out, and the market shrinks.
That is why their interest is cautious rather than aggressive. The recruitment department can like the player, the coach can see a role for him, but the balance sheet will have the final word. A formal offer to Al-Hilal hinges entirely on where Juventus finish in May.
For Nunez, the equation is just as stark. Stay in Saudi Arabia as a peripheral figure in domestic competition, leaning on continental matches to stay sharp? Or engineer a return to Europe, where the scrutiny is harsher but the stage suits his ambitions?
The coming months will decide it. The race in Serie A, the knockout nights in the AFC Champions League Elite, the conversations between Turin and Riyadh – all of it feeding into one question: does Luis Nunez’s next chapter belong back under the European floodlights?
