JURGEN CAN MAKE ME THE BEST BAR NUN
DARWIN NUNEZ revealed he chose Liverpool ahead of other European football royalty because he reckons Jurgen Klopp can make him a king.
The striker becomes the third Uruguayan to play for the Reds, following in the footsteps of Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates, after signing a six-year contract with the Merseyside club.
Liverpool will stump up £64million initially but the fee will swiftly rise to £75m based on appearances, with his club Benfica set to receive a further £10m based on trophy success.
And in goods news for the Lisbon club’s coffers, Nunez believes he will deliver those trophies at Anfield after discussions with Klopp convinced him the club are the coming power in Europe.
It’s understood the 22-year-old turned down Barcelona, Manchester United and Atletico Madrid despite bigger contract offers.
Sporting director Julian Ward flew to Portugal to set up the deal soon after the end of the season to avoid being gazumped by United, who strongly pursued the forward.
Nunez insisted there was never a chance of him going anywhere else after tasting the Anfield experience with Benfica in the Champions League quarter-final.
He said: “I’m really happy and delighted to be here at Liverpool.
“It’s a massive club. When I arrived at the training ground, I was really surprised to see the structure and all the trophies here.
“You can then imagine yourself winning more trophies and then later on when you come back again and see the trophies on display, you can say, ‘Look, I was a part of that, I was there, winning trophies.’
“That’s one of the reasons I came here to Liverpool – to win trophies and titles. I want to win a lot of trophies here.”
Klopp said: “Darwin is a wonderful player, already really good but with so much potential to get even better. His age, desire, his hunger to be even better, he believes in our project.”
Sadio Mane, who has seen contract talks break down, seems certain to join Bayern Munich, with the Senegal ace agreeing a deal that will earn him around £360,000 a week at the German club.