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Former Liverpool forward Luis Suarez had earmarked something special in Darwin Nunez' football long before his breakout season in 2021-22.
The former Barcelona forward had told journalist Gerard Romero in 2021:
"When [Nunez] was at Almeria, I told Barcelona about him. They asked me and I said, 'Keep an eye on this one, he's got something interesting about him. But they replied 'No, he's in Almeria, he's too young.' But instead of now having to pay £80m, £90m or £100m, they would have paid £15m or £20m for him back then."
Darwin Nunez played one season for Almeria, who signed him for €13 million from Penarol in 2019. He scored 16 goals for them in 32 games before joining Benfica a year later for €24 million.
His impressive spell in the 2019-20 season in La Liga pushed Suarez to alert Barcelona about the young striker. Nunez went on to create a big impact in Portugal, where he scored 47 goals in 84 games for Benfica in the last two seasons.
His breakthrough came in the recently concluded season where he hammered 34 goals in 41 games, including six strikes in 10 Champions League matches.
He is now reportedly closing in on a move to Liverpool for at least £75 million (according to Goal). If Barcelona had paid heed to Suarez' instincts, they might have been able to land him for a fraction of this massive fee earlier.
Liverpool aiming to replace Sadio Mane with Darwin Nunez?
Liverpool are coming off an extremely long campaign which saw them win two domestic cups (FA and Carabao). The Reds narrowly missed out on the Premier League and the Champions League.
They will want to improve on that in the coming season. Their Senegalese forward Sadio Mane, however, might no longer be a part of the team. He has dropped several hints that he could leave Anfield this summer.
The Reds are possibly trying to replace him with Darwin Nunez. They are reportedly close to agreeing a deal for the 22-year-old forward. Nunez has the versatilty to play in any position across the front three.
However, he is likely to be used as a centre-forward, with the starting position likely to be left vacant by Sadio Mane.
