Liverpool Targets Darwin Núñez Reunion Amid Summer Rebuild

Liverpool’s summer of upheaval shows no sign of slowing. Mohamed Salah has gone. Andy Robertson too. Ibrahima Konaté looks set for Real Madrid. A new era is arriving fast at Anfield, and Andoni Iraola is walking into a dressing room full of gaps.

One of those holes might soon be filled by a familiar face.

Núñez on the market – and on Liverpool’s radar

Darwin Núñez, once the headline act of Liverpool’s 2022 window under Jürgen Klopp, is back on the market and, crucially, available for nothing.

TEAMtalk report that the Uruguayan has been offered to a select group of clubs as a free agent, with Liverpool firmly in the conversation. Benfica, where he exploded onto the European scene, are also expected to push hard for his signature, while whispers in Spain suggest the 26-year-old has already given the green light to a return to Anfield.

If that proves true, Liverpool would be welcoming back a forward whose first spell never quite matched the price tag, but who still left with a Premier League winner’s medal and a reputation as one of the game’s great chaos agents.

Saudi detour ends abruptly

Núñez’s post-Liverpool chapter has been brief and brutal.

He joined Al-Hilal at the start of the 2025/26 season, scoring nine times in 24 appearances in all competitions before running headlong into the Saudi Pro League’s foreign player limits. Once the squad squeeze came, he was cut.

His last outing for the Saudi giants came in February, when he scored both goals in a 2-1 AFC Champions League Elite win over Al-Wahda. Not a bad way to bow out, but it was the end all the same. His contract with Al-Hilal has since been mutually terminated, leaving him free to choose his next move.

Now he is weighing up his options ahead of the summer window, with the possibility of a return to Merseyside suddenly very real.

The same Darwin: chaos, chances… and misses

Anyone at Anfield expecting a reinvented finisher would be kidding themselves.

Núñez’s time in Saudi Arabia did little to change the story that followed him around the Premier League. He scored six league goals from a hefty 11.48 expected goals, a familiar gap between the quality of chances he generates and the number he actually tucks away.

Liverpool fans know the numbers by heart. Under Klopp, Núñez hit 11 league goals in 2023/24 but missed 27 Big Chances. The season before, his debut campaign, brought nine league goals and 20 Big Chances Missed. He dragged defences all over the pitch, stretched games, created chaos – and left a stack of opportunities on the table.

That’s the trade-off: relentless xG, maddening finishing.

Why Iraola might still want him

For Iraola, though, the equation is different.

He inherits a squad stripped of two icons and light on attacking depth. The new manager’s football demands intensity, vertical running and constant movement in the final third. Núñez, for all his flaws, ticks those boxes emphatically.

As a free agent, he offers something else: value. No transfer fee, Premier League experience, familiarity with the club, and a profile that can change the rhythm of a game even when he starts on the bench.

Used in a rotational role, Núñez becomes less of a gamble and more of a weapon. He is an xG magnet, a forward who will drag centre-backs into places they don’t want to go and keep goalkeepers permanently on edge. The chances will come. They always do with him. The question, as ever, is how many he puts away.

Liverpool’s summer is already defined by departures. If Iraola signs off on this homecoming, it could be the first major step in shaping what his version of Anfield chaos looks like.