Darwin Nunez saluted the Kop as they chanted his name, danced in the April sunshine, and celebrated with a cigar and beer in hand when Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions in April.
It is a testament to the Uruguayan’s mercurial talent that this is not the ending he would have longed for, now linked with a move away from Anfield.
After three memorable years on Merseyside, the 26-year-old is expected to leave the club in search of a fresh start and more favourable goalscoring conditions. Adored by supporters for his wholehearted playing style, Nunez’s finest Liverpool moments could sit comfortably in highlight reels belonging to the world’s most gifted centre-forwards.
Yet he appears headed for the exit having failed to deliver on the abundant promise shown before his move from Benfica to Liverpool for a club-record £85m fee in 2022.
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A look at Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez’s best goals for Liverpool
Nunez scored seven goals in 47 appearances last season, consigned to a bit-part role under Arne Slot, who criticised the forward’s “work effort”. He could depart Anfield halfway through his six-year contract for a significantly reduced price.
Serie A champions Napoli have expressed interest in his signing and are prepared to pay £47.3m for the striker. But the Italian club will decide to proceed with a move for Nunez only once a deal for Victor Osimhen has been finalised with Galatasaray.
The Turkish title winners have agreed to pay Napoli £64.6m – the value of Osimhen’s release clause – for the Nigerian striker, but negotiations are ongoing regarding payment conditions and personal terms are yet to be agreed upon with the player.
Nunez, surely, would relish the opportunity to work under serial winner Antonio Conte, who led the club to only its second scudetto in 35 years as they edged out Inter Milan in a hard-fought title race that stretched into the final game-week of the season.
In winning Serie A for the fifth time, the Italian tactician became the first manager to win the league with three clubs, having previously guided Juventus to consecutive successes from 2012 to 2014, before masterminding Inter Milan’s triumphant title bid in 2021.
“Napoli, as a team and as individual players, are doing so well because of Conte,” explains Sky in Italy reporter Valentina Fass.
“At the moment, Napoli have a really good group of players and they’re mentally happy and relaxed. This is why players who come in tend to do well there, and it is because of the way Conte has organised the team.
“The secret element is the way Conte treats his players when they arrive; he makes them feel really important and like one of the main parts of the team. For example, with Scott McTominay he said, ‘You are the main element of the midfield’.”
For evidence of Conte’s managerial ability, Nunez should look no further than McTominay’s rapid ascent from an unspectacular midfield option at Manchester United to the advanced, box-crashing goalscorer seen lighting up Serie A last season.
Conte’s bold decision to reprofile the 28-year-old from a defensive utility man to a creative attacking threat was vindicated as the Scot was named the division’s Most Valuable Player, having scored 12 goals and provided four assists in 34 games.
Napoli’s Scott McTominay has been reborn in Serie A under Antonio Conte
The Italian manager has cause to feel he can eke a similar amount of untapped potential from Nunez, whose unpolished finishing has become a concerning Achilles heel. In each of his last three seasons with Liverpool, the attacker has underperformed relative to his expected goals (xG) total.
Alarm bells begin to ring when you look at the stats. Nunez has scored 25 Premier League goals in 95 appearances, yet he has accumulated an xG of 33. That means the Uruguayan has squandered eight goals across his time at Anfield – but why would Napoli buy a striker costing his side goals instead of a player outperforming their xG?
The 26-year-old’s biggest draw might be that he is still incredibly raw. Liverpool supporters in attendance at Brentford in January when Nunez struck twice to earn Slot’s side a dramatic 2-0 win will vouch that he’s uncontainable when at his brilliant best.
Those critical of the forward will argue that he’s not at his best nearly often enough to warrant a starting spot in a team competing against Europe’s elite. But overlooking Nunez’s erratic finishing, his xG figures are indicative of a striker with an eye for goal who consistently takes up threatening goalscoring positions.
If Nunez can find the end product to match his instinctive movement, he will be primed to follow in the footsteps of several former Premier League players who took their careers to the next level in Naples. A large portion of Napoli’s success can be credited to their smart recruitment of footballers flying under the radar in England’s top tier.
Billy Gilmour was brought in by the club last summer from Brighton to partner his international team-mate McTominay, while midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa has excelled at Napoli after a spell at Fulham.
Former Chelsea and Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku, though, was arguably the most high-profile player brought in as part of Conte’s Premier League raid last summer, when he was bailed out of a doomed second spell at Stamford Bridge for £30m, and Nunez should be encouraged by his goalscoring exploits in Serie A.
For the second successive season, the Belgian hit double figures in Italy as his 14 league goals fired Napoli to the title, and during the 2023/24 season, he found the back of the net 13 times across a fruitful loan spell at Roma.
Although Lukaku has shown little sign of slowing down, at 32 the centre-forward is one of the club’s most senior options, and it is anticipated that Napoli will sign a younger striker to lead the line next campaign.
If Nunez is to be Lukaku’s successor, the Uruguayan has little reason to be fazed by the old guard. While Lukaku marginally outperformed his expected goals per 90 minutes last season (+0.03) and Nunez underperformed slightly (-0.06), the underlying numbers suggest they are similarly effective when chances come their way.
Fass explained: “Conte would never stay in a club he doesn’t think can win so he must be confident in the Napoli project. Fans know that a great striker will arrive and they are really excited about it.”
The opportunity for Nunez to begin next season as the first-choice striker at a club competing for major honours might be a fortunate reprieve after a tough campaign, but one based on trust that he can recapture his best form.
In Naples, with the guidance of Conte, Nunez could become the latest of the Premier League’s outcast and overlooked to be released from their shackles and unleashed upon Serie A.
