Darwin Nunez deal will cost Liverpool £10m as forward nears Al-Hilal split

Darwin Nunez has been sensationally dropped by Al-Hilal from their Saudi Pro League squad.

The Uruguayan, 26, remains eligible for the AFC Asian Champions League Elite but the SPL giants will play at most five more matches in that competition.

It means the former Liverpool striker’s lucrative move to Saudi Arabia has turned sour - mere months after leaving Anfield in an initial £46m deal.

Nunez was the big-name summer arrival for Saudi high-flyers Al-Hilal - and he took his place in a star-studded squad alongside Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Theo Hernandez and others.

However movements in the January window have all but ended his stint in the SPL - with Karim Benzema completing a move from rivals Al-Ittihad.

Benzema in, Nunez out

The Frenchman, 38, will be registered for the SPL list instead of Nunez - plunging his future into immediate jeopardy.

Nunez - a Premier League title-winner with Liverpool last season - was linked with Fenerbahce through January but ultimately stayed put in Riyadh.

That could all change come summer however with the writing very much on the wall for his Al-Hilal career.

We’ve seen other SPL players dropped from the local squad before an impending departure - as seen in the case of Roberto Firmino at Al-Ahli last season.

Nunez could now reasonably be expected to follow a similar script.

Liverpool owed another £10m in add-ons

And that spells bad news for Liverpool - who were banking on achievable add-ons from this deal to boost their coffers even further.

Trusted insider James Pearce reported the deal at €53m last summer - rising to a potential €65m once those add-ons are triggered.

But it’s inconceivable that Nunez or Al-Hilal are going to hit those targets with the player having featured only 23 times in all competitions thus far - scoring seven goals.

Richard Hughes could therefore be set to lose out on as much as €12m (£10m) from this Nunez deal as it deteriorates in front of his eyes.

Liverpool paid a fee that could reach £85m for Nunez to Benfica back in 2022 and for a while he was the club’s most expensive player in history.

They managed to claw some of that back last summer but it looks like £10m is going to slip through their fingers as a result of this crisis.

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