Liverpool Pursue Darwin Núñez Reunion Amid Rebuild
Anfield is not just changing. It is being stripped back and rebuilt.
Mohamed Salah has gone. Andy Robertson too. Ibrahima Konaté looks set to follow, seemingly Real Madrid-bound. Andoni Iraola walks into a dressing room full of echoes and empty spaces, tasked with fixing the mess left behind by Arne Slot while trying to keep Liverpool competitive in the here and now.
In the middle of all that upheaval, an old face has suddenly reappeared on the radar.
Núñez back on the market
Darwin Núñez, the chaotic, compelling forward signed by Jürgen Klopp in 2022 for a fee that carried the weight of a new era, is once again without a club. His time at Liverpool never quite matched the price tag, even if it did end with a Premier League winner’s medal. The story always felt unfinished.
After leaving Anfield, Núñez headed to the Saudi Pro League with Al-Hilal at the start of the 2025/26 season. The numbers were respectable rather than explosive: nine goals in 24 appearances. His final outing for the Saudi side 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 forced Al-Hilal into a reshuffle, and Núñez was cut from the squad. His contract has since been terminated by mutual agreement. At 26, he is a free agent again, his next move suddenly one of the more intriguing subplots of the summer.
Liverpool at the table
According to a report from TEAMtalk, Núñez has been offered to a small group of clubs as a free agent. Liverpool are firmly among them. Benfica, where he first exploded onto the European stage, are also expected to push hard for his signature.
There are even whispers in Spain that the striker has already given the green light to a Liverpool return, a homecoming that would see him walk back through the Shankly Gates at no transfer cost.
For a club trying to stretch its budget across several problem areas, that matters.
The same Darwin, for better and worse
No one on Merseyside will need a scouting report. Núñez’s Liverpool career is remembered as much for the chances missed as the goals scored.
Under Klopp, he was a storm of movement and mayhem. In the 2023/24 Premier League season he scored 11 league goals but racked up 27 Big Chances Missed. In his debut campaign, he hit nine league goals and missed 20 Big Chances. The pattern followed him to Saudi Arabia: six league goals from a hefty 11.48 xG. The finishing demons did not disappear with the change of scenery.
What never changed, though, was his ability to get into scoring positions. He is an xG magnet, a forward who bends defensive lines with his runs, drags centre-backs into places they do not want to go, and turns scrappy attacks into live threats simply by being constantly available in the box.
The ball does not always end up in the net. But the chances keep coming.
Iraola’s dilemma – and opportunity
Iraola inherits a squad with glaring gaps, none more obvious than in attack. With Salah gone and depth thin across the front line, Liverpool need bodies, but they also need profiles that fit a high-energy, front-foot style.
On that front, Núñez ticks several boxes. He presses, he runs, he stretches games vertically. Even used in a rotational role, he offers volume: of sprints, of shots, of chaos. For a coach who thrives on intensity, that is not a trivial asset.
The risk is obvious. The finishing that frustrated fans and staff alike has not suddenly sharpened abroad. Bringing him back would mean accepting the full Darwin experience again – the roar as he bursts through on goal, the groans when another big chance flies wide.
Yet this time, the context is different. He would not arrive as the marquee signing carrying the burden of replacing Sadio Mané. He would walk in as a free agent, a tool in Iraola’s box rather than the centrepiece of the project.
For a Liverpool side short on attacking depth and long on problems to solve, that shift in expectation could make all the difference.
If Núñez does return, Anfield will not just be welcoming back a familiar face. It will be betting that, in a new system and a new era, the chaos that once divided opinion can finally be harnessed – and that the story that always felt half-finished might yet find its ending on the Kop’s doorstep.
