Luis Suarez has revealed that he recommended incoming Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez to Barcelona earlier in his career.
Suarez – who is out of contract this summer at the end of his two-year stint at Atletico Madrid – made the recommendation to his former club Barca when Nunez was playing for Almeria in the Spanish second tier. However, the Blaugrana did not take up the advice and Nunez subsequently joined Portuguese giants Benfica last summer in a £20million deal.
Nunez bagged an impressive 34 goals in all competitions in his debut season in Lisbon – including in both legs of their European clash against the Reds at the quarter-final stage, taking his goal tally in the competition to six for the campaign – with Liverpool winning the race to his signature.
The Uruguayan international was always going to be one of Europe's most sought-after strikers this summer after a sensational season in the Primeira Liga and Champions League and had been linked to a series of top European clubs. His move to Anfield will see the club break their record transfer fee of £75million paid for Virgil van Dijk in 2018, with a £64.2million upfront fee for Nunez rising to £85.5million with attainable add-ons.
Nunez is set to replace Sadio Mane in the attack of Jurgen Klopp’s side, with the Senegalese forward reported to be closing in on a move to Bayern Munich. Yet it could all have been different for the Uruguayan striker after Barcelona decided against taking the advice of his compatriot Suarez.
Suarez told Catalan journalist Gerard Romero's Twitch channel back in October: "I recommended Darwin to Barcelona when he was at Almeria. I have 15 years of international experience. I know a thing or two about forwards.
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"I told them, 'pay attention to this one, he's very good, he shows interesting things'. They told me he was at Almeria and that he was too young. But instead of paying now €80m, €90m or €100m, they would’ve paid €15m or €20m and have him there as a substitute."
Of course, Nunez and Suarez have been teammates at international level for Uruguay and will link up for this year's World Cup in Qatar. Nunez has been capped just 11 times by his nation, scoring two goals, some way short of his nation's record scorer Suarez's 68 goals in 132 Uruguay caps.
