Darwin Nunez has been handed the Primeira Liga Player of the Year award following his record-breaking transfer to Liverpool.
The 23-year-old striker scored a sensational 26 goals for Benfica in 28 Portuguese top-flight games last season to earn the accolade, just as Bruno Fernandes did twice prior to signing for Manchester United. Nunez's remarkable campaign - which included four assists - made him a worthy winner, while Fernandes claimed the award in back-to-back years before heading to Old Trafford.
Having starred for Sporting Lisbon throughout the 2017-18 and 18-19 seasons, United shelled out £47million to sign the Portuguese midfielder in January 2020. Fernandes, 27, has since gone on to become one of United's best signings of the post- Sir Alex Ferguson era, recently earning a lucrative new contract which keeps him in Manchester until 2026. Liverpool will be hoping for similar success with Nunez after agreeing to deal worth up to £85m to secure the Uruguayan's signature, which would mark a new club record.
Nunez had already won the Golden Boot in Portugal and made the top flight's team of the year for 21-22 before bagging the grand prize. The ex-Atletico Penarol starlet shared two cute photos of him and his son - also called Darwin - sitting next to the award, captioning the post: "Son, your dad was a scorer in the Portuguese League."
Also in the running for the prestigious honour was none other than Nunez' new Reds teammate Luis Diaz. The Colombian winger, 25, departed Porto in January after a spectacular half-term, with Liverpool paying £50m on the eve of deadline day. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp now has both of the exciting attackers in his squad and can look forward to deploying the pair in his star-studded forward line.
After Diaz made a lightning start to life on Merseyside and helped Liverpool lift the FA Cup and League Cup this spring, Klopp reckons that Nunez is another ready-made Reds star. "Darwin is a wonderful player; already really good but so much potential to get even better," the German told liverpoolfc.com.
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"That's why it's so exciting, to be honest. His age, his desire, his hunger to be even better than he currently is. His belief in our project and what we are looking to do as a club. He is as excited by us as we are by him, which makes for a great relationship, when you appreciate each other's strengths.
"That is certainly the case here. He thinks we suit him and we believe he is the right fit for us – so let's do it. He has all the pieces we look for. He can set a tempo, he brings energy, he can threaten space from central and wide areas. He is aggressive and dynamic with his movement. He plays without fear, he's powerful. I know he will excite our supporters."
The man himself is buzzing to get started with his new team, having not yet linked up with the Reds for pre-season training due to representing Uruguay last month. "When I arrived at the training ground [to complete the transfer], I was really surprised to see the set-up and the structure and all the trophies here," Nunez explained.
"You can then imagine yourself winning more trophies and then later on when you come here again and see the trophies on display, you can say, 'Look, I was a part of that, I was there at that time, winning trophies'. That's one of the reasons why I came here to Liverpool – to win trophies and titles. I want to win a lot of trophies at Liverpool."
