Steve McManaman believes that signing Benfica goal-getter Darwin Nunez would be good business for Liverpool, while Manchester City's pursuit of Erling Haaland should end any interest in the Borussia Dortmund striker.
Nunez and Haaland are two of the most in-demand young strikers across Europe and Liverpool supporters were given the opportunity to see the former up close when the Reds faced Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals earlier this month. The 22-year-old Uruguayan has been blazing a trail this season, firing 31 goals in 38 appearances for the Eagles and ex-Anfield winger McManaman, who also turned out for City later in his career, believes capturing Nunez would be smart business by the Reds.
Writing in his column for Horseracing.net, McManaman said: "I’ve seen a lot of him this season. I think he needs to improve but he’s certainly got all the right attributes. He scored a lovely goal the other evening against Sporting CP in the Derby de Lisboa and he was impressive against Liverpool and, to be honest, it’s probably the most impressive he’s been all season from when I’ve been able to watch. He’s only a young kid from Uruguay, who came from Almería and came with a decent price tag. He looks as if he’s improving and, if he continues to do so, he could be a really good player.
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"He’s 22 years old, he’s big and strong and he scores goals. Having an eye for goal always helps and in this day and age, I believe he will go for more than £40-50 million. Benfica will want more than that because of all the goals he’s scored. I don’t think it’ll be too much of a gamble for somebody if I’m being honest. Arsenal, Newcastle and even Manchester United will need a centre-forward because Edinson Cavani is set to leave at the end of the season and Cristiano Ronaldo is coming towards the end of his career.
"The price tag isn’t huge, as we’ve recently seen Liverpool pay £40 million for Luis Díaz, another talent from the Primeira Liga. If the overall package for the player is doable, say if that’s around €60 million, then I don’t believe it’s much of a risk for a 22-year-old such as him. He looks like a really hungry kid and he caused Liverpool a lot of problems."
While speculation over whether Nunez will be Anfield-bound or go elsewhere this summer, rivals Manchester City appear to be closing in on the capture of Haaland from Dortmund. But McManaman concedes that the likelihood of a deal being done by the two clubs will simply come down to affordability and that has cooled any Liverpool interest from the outset.
McManaman said: "Like the Robinho deal in 2008, I do believe this would be a huge statement signing for the club [Man City], even more so than the record-breaking Jack Grealish signing last summer. Jack’s price tag will be a lot more than what Erling Haaland’s will be of course, but Manchester City have indicated that they have needed a centre-forward for a while and Erling’s young, he’s dynamic and we’ve seen what he can do over the last couple of years. I’m not saying he will be the final piece of the jigsaw but they’re top of the league, they’re in the semi-finals of the Champions League and they’re going to buy one of the best prospects around, so it’s a really big signing for them.
"The fact that City can afford the astronomical package to sign him could be behind his decision to join them over a La Liga club. We don’t know for certain, but there are a lot of rumours that the price tag is not going to be just €75 million. We know there’s going to be lots of different add-ons, so with his wages included, the whole deal is going to be a lot of money. There must have been twenty or so clubs interested in him, so the financial demands have surely whittled down the number of clubs that he could have realistically gone to. This surely isn’t a case of just his transfer fee and wages. There are surely many add-ons that have sent the price tag spiralling, so we will have to wait and see if the real figures will ever be revealed.
"You can see why many clubs have stepped back from the deal. You’ve heard Jürgen Klopp state that he’s a fan of Erling, but even he’s admitted that Liverpool couldn’t go in for a transfer such as this. If Liverpool are saying things like that then it shows that the figures must be astronomical."
