Liverpool have reached a verbal agreement with Benfica player Darwin Nunez, and the Premier League side has offered €80 million, plus €20 million add-ons, as per Fabrizio Romano. While the paperwork and official signing remain to be completed, the Uruguayan is expected to arrive at Anfield on a five-year contract. 

Nunez’s signing comes at a time when Jurgen Klopp’s side needs a surefire striker to find the back of the net. Despite the side’s current impressive forward lineup – which includes Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, and Diego Jota, they failed to score on several occasions last season, losing the Premier League title to Manchester City and the Champions League to Real Madrid. 

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Now, the Merseyside club is looking to bolster its team, especially with Mane poised to depart and both Firmino and Jota going through a rough performance patch. Takumi Minamino is not too reliable as an attacking threat either, though Liverpool’s signing of the Colombian winger Luis Diaz, has worked wonders. 

The 22-year-old Nunez holds similar promise, is in form, and is currently developing – with his best years possibly ahead. His arrival to the Anfield side also offers an additional aspect of physicality to the Liverpool forward lineup. At over six feet, Nunez is taller than both Mane and Jota, who are both five feet ten, or under. Though Mane and Jota are good with headers, they don’t quite have the physicality of an orthodox striker, like Harry Kane or Karim Benzema. Nunez’s signing gives Liverpool its first player in that position during the Klopp era, and the youngster is sure to add a dynamic up front. Speaking to BT Sport Virgil van Dijk described Nunez as “tall and strong”. 

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His arrival also gives an added opportunity to Scouse defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, who’s made a mark with his unparalleled crossing. Thus far, the 23-year-old has not had much of a physical target to be on the receiving end of these crosses, but Nunez’s arrival could alter that and see the emergence of some spectacular linkups.