Speculation has been rife for the past month over who Liverpool will choose to replace Sadio Mane, with the Senegalese star looking set to leave Merseyside this summer.
Bayern Munich made an opening offer of £21 million for Mane over the weekend, a bid which has been subsequently rejected by Liverpool.
With the Mane saga likely to drag on all summer, Jurgen Klopp and FSG have more than enough time to find and seal a suitable replacement and it seems they have identified one particular player to fill Mane’s boots.
According to top Liverpool journalist Paul Joyce, the club have put Benfica’s impressive forward Darwin Nunez at the top of their summer wish list and are willing to battle it out with Manchester United for the player’s signature.
Liverpool are interested in Benfica striker Darwin Nunez. [Paul Joyce] 🔴 pic.twitter.com/xVYcgooTGF
— PurelyFootball ℗ (@PurelyFootball) June 5, 2022
As any fan of the club will know, Joyce wouldn’t suggest that Liverpool are making a move for a player unless there was concrete information that they were in for them.
However, Joyce adds that Jurgen Klopp’s side wouldn’t be willing to sanction a deal at “any cost”, suggesting there could be a lot of back and forth during this window.
Benfica rate Nunez at anywhere between €80million and €100 million, a steep price to pay for a forward who has only had one breakthrough season.
Nevertheless, if Mane does leave the club, Liverpool need a suitable player to replace him to keep up with Premier League juggernauts Manchester City.
Nunez ticks a lot of boxes fans want to see in the next generation of Liverpool talents to emerge at Anfield but with plenty of other options on the market, this deal could take a while to finish.