Liverpool fended off interest from Manchester United when they signed Darwin Nunez. But it's a transfer that now looks to have hindered their rivals more than originally thought.
The Reds agreed a deal potentially worth up to £85million with Benfica for the striker last month. One of their biggest foes were also in the hunt for Nunez, but in the end, he chose Liverpool.
Had he gone to United, the 23-year-old would likely have had to play second fiddle to Cristiano Ronaldo. However, reports on Saturday night from a variety of well-placed sources claimed that the Portuguese international has now requested to leave after just one season back at Old Trafford.
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And following on from that, it has now been reported that United's stance on Nunez may have been different had they not mistakenly believed Ronaldo wanted to stay. Journalist Sam Pilger has said the Red Devils may have “pushed harder” to beat Liverpool to the signing of the Benfica man if they had known Ronaldo wanted to go.
While another report from The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell says that United were working on the belief that Ronaldo was staying for the upcoming season. This led to the decision to “leave Liverpool” to go and sign Nunez.
Nunez was Reds manager Jurgen Klopp’s top transfer target for this summer - and the club made sure the deal got done as quickly as possible. Sporting director Julian Ward flew out to Portugal to thrash out negotiations with Benfica over a deal for the forward.
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