LIVERPOOL are closing in on the signing of forward Darwin Nunez after reaching a verbal agreement with Benfica, according to reports.
Jurgen Klopp is looking to add to his attacking ranks this summer and is closing in on Nunez, who he gave a glowing report of when the two sides met in the Champions League last season.
Nunez found the back of the net TWICE against Liverpool over both legs of the quarter-final and saw two chalked off for offside.
According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool have reached a verbal agreement with Nunez’s club Benfica on Saturday morning.
The fee for Nunez including add-ons totals to £85.4m, breaking Liverpool’s transfer record.
However, The Times claim that Liverpool are trying to persuade Benfica to accept a fee closer to £60m – but all paid up front rather than in instalments.
Liverpool’s current priciest transfer to date was £76m for Virgil van Dijk in 2018, who was playing his trade for Southampton at the time.
The Reds are preparing the paperwork and Nunez has already agreed to a five-year contract.
Nunez scored 34 goals across all competitions last season for Benfica.
The Uruguayan netted six in the Champions League with all of those goals coming against Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Ajax and Liverpool.
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Klopp said on Nunez: “Extremely good looking boy, huh? And a decent player as well.
“Really good, really good. I knew before, of course, but he played pretty much in front of me with his tough battles with Ibrahima Konate.
“He was physically strong, quick, was calm around his finish. Good, really good.
“I always say in these situations if he is healthy, it’s a big career ahead of him.”
Nunez is reportedly set to miss Uruguay’s fixture against Panama on Saturday in order to get the move to Liverpool over the line.
Source: The Sun