Liverpool Pursue Darwin Núñez Reunion Amid Rebuilding Efforts
Anfield is not so much evolving this summer as being ripped up and rewired. Mohamed Salah has gone. Andy Robertson too. Ibrahima Konaté looks set to follow, seemingly bound for Real Madrid. The spine that carried Liverpool through the Jurgen Klopp era is being dismantled piece by piece.
Into that turbulence steps Andoni Iraola, tasked with repairing the damage of the Arne Slot interlude and shaping a new side on the fly. Holes are everywhere in this squad. Experience has walked out of the door, depth has thinned, and the attack looks worryingly light.
So the idea of a familiar face walking back through the Shankly Gates, and doing so for nothing, suddenly carries a certain logic.
Núñez on the table – for free
Darwin Núñez, the great Klopp gamble of 2022, is back on the market. The Uruguayan, signed for a hefty fee that always hung around his neck, never quite became the ruthless finisher Liverpool thought they were buying. Yet he did leave with a Premier League winner’s medal and the sense that, for all the frustration, defenders hated playing against him.
A report from TEAMtalk claims Núñez has been offered around as a free agent to a select group of clubs, with Liverpool “firmly at the table.” No fee. No transfer wrangling. Just wages and the question that has followed him throughout his career: can you live with the chaos to get the upside?
Since leaving Anfield, Núñez’s path has only grown stranger. He joined Al-Hilal at the start of the 2025/26 season, part of the Saudi Pro League’s continued push for marquee names. The numbers were typically Darwin: nine goals in 24 appearances, bursts of menace punctuated by maddening wastefulness.
His final outing for Al-Hilal came in February, when he scored twice in a 2-1 AFC Champions League Elite win over Al-Wahda. Then the door shut. Foreign player limits squeezed him out of the squad, and his contract was eventually terminated by mutual agreement.
At 26, a supposed peak, he suddenly finds himself between projects and weighing up his next move.
Benfica, Liverpool… and a whisper from Spain
Núñez is now assessing his options ahead of a summer move. Benfica, the club that launched him onto the European stage, are expected to be in the fight to bring him back. A return to Lisbon would make emotional and footballing sense.
Yet the pull of Anfield lingers. The same report suggests there are whispers in Spain that Núñez has already given the green light to a Liverpool return, again as a free agent. No transfer fee, no amortisation debates, just a straight shot at redemption.
For Liverpool, it would be a pragmatic move as much as a romantic one. Iraola inherits a squad short on attacking depth, especially after the exit of Salah and the uncertainty around other forwards. He needs options. He needs runners. He needs someone who drags centre-backs into places they don’t want to go.
Núñez does all of that instinctively.
The same old Darwin – and why that might be enough
What he has never done, in England or abroad, is fully fix his finishing. Liverpool fans will not be surprised to learn that the numbers in Saudi told a familiar story: six league goals from a massive 11.48 expected goals. Chances flowed. Conversions did not.
Under Klopp, the pattern was just as stark. In the 2023/24 Premier League season, Núñez scored 11 league goals but racked up 27 Big Chances Missed. The year before, his debut campaign, he hit nine league goals and missed 20 Big Chances. He was an xG magnet, a chaos engine, a striker who could turn a quiet game into a storm without ever looking fully in control of it.
That is the dilemma for Iraola. Does he embrace the storm?
In a squad currently stripped of depth and short on guaranteed goals, a free swing at Núñez begins to look appealing. Even in a rotational role, he guarantees something Liverpool badly need: volume of chances. His movement, his aggression, his relentless willingness to run in behind – all of it bends games in his team’s favour, even when the ball ends up in Row Z.
For a manager trying to rebuild quickly, with limited time and a restless fanbase, that kind of weapon is hard to ignore. The question now is whether Liverpool are ready to live with the misses again in order to chase the mayhem he brings – and whether Núñez is ready to gamble his prime years on a second act at Anfield.
