Darwin Nunez celebrates with his Liverpool teammates (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
Darwin Nunez waited nearly 70 days for a transfer to Napoli, who placed him at the top of their list of targets up front for this summer.
My sources tell me that Napoli had long considered him their first choice. There were also no issues with the player regarding his salary of over €5million plus bonuses per season; discussions continued until just 48 hours ago.
Since last weekend, Napoli (who have always had Lorenzo Lucca as their plan B since the same date in May) had been considering moving toward the Udinese specialist.
It’s no coincidence that on Saturday, they surprisingly resumed contact with Torino regarding Milinkovic-Savic without abandoning the Ndoye option, an indirect confirmation that Napoli was considering allocating the money saved on the Liverpool striker to other targets.
Darwin Nunez celebrates scoring for Liverpool against Preston (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
What Napoli were willing to pay Liverpool for Darwin Nunez transfer
Napoli had presented the Reds with an initial offer of €42million for Nunez. They then surpassed the €50million barrier, and then changed strategy, choosing the second name on the list in the form of Lucca.
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Now, nearly 70 days later, Nunez will be able to decide his future after having truly nurtured the dream of wearing the Napoli jersey, giving it his absolute priority out of all the choices available to him.
Still, with Napoli falling through, there will be no shortage of other offers; he had already been approached by Saudi Pro League clubs (including Al-Hilal, which we discussed previously). He will decide soon after talks with his advisors and with the possible approval of his current club.
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