Exclusive: Saudi Pro League club plotting gargantuan wage offer for ‘world-class’ Liverpool ace | OneFootball

One Liverpool player could be the recipient of a gargantuan wage offer from the Saudi Pro League as his future continues to be the subject of much speculation.

Earlier this week, Fabrizio Romano reported that Napoli have ended their pursuit of Darwin Nunez as they considered the Reds’ asking price to be too high, with the Serie A champions instead set to bring in Lorenzo Lucca from Udinese.

However, the 26-year-old is ‘still expected to leave’ Anfield this summer, and interest from outside of Europe hasn’t waned in the slightest.

Al-Hilal plotting megabucks offer to bring Nunez to Saudi Arabia

According to sources close to Empire of the Kop, Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Hilal are preparing to seize upon Napoli’s change of heart by presenting an enormous wage offer to the Uruguay striker.

At the request of head coach Simone Inzaghi, the Riyadh club’s hierarchy have made contact for Nunez, who Liverpool value at approximately €70m (£60.7m), and are prepared to pay him an astronomical salary of €20m-€25m (£17.3m-£21.7m) per year, in addition to meeting the Reds’ asking price.

The 26-year-old would prefer to remain in Europe, but the Middle Eastern outfit are hoping that a lucrative wage packet might yet win him over, and his exit from Merseyside is still considered likely.

(Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

Could Nunez depart for Saudi Arabia this summer?

Having fallen out of favour under Arne Slot last season, and with LFC set to make an offer of their own to Eintracht Frankfurt for Hugo Ekitike, there’s a strong chance that the Uruguayan could move on from Anfield before the end of August.

If Nunez agrees to join Al-Hilal and they pay him an annual salary of £21.7m, that’d equate to just over £417,000 per week, almost trebling his current weekly wage of £140,000 (Capology).

Between that and the diminishing prospect of a regular starting berth at Liverpool, it wouldn’t be greatly surprising if our number 9 were to call time on his spell with the Reds in the next few weeks.

However, until such time that another centre-forward is brought in, the Premier League champions can’t afford to jettison the 26-year-old too readily, especially after the tragic death of Diogo Jota a fortnight ago.

Nunez has undoubtedly been frustrating at times over the past three years, and a return of seven goals in 47 games last season wasn’t good enough.

If he is to stay, though, hopefully we’ll see more of the composure that he showed when netting against Preston last Sunday, and more of the qualities which led Guillem Balague to say that he’s ‘becoming a world-class player’ (BBC Euro Leagues podcast).