When the summer comes, Liverpool is expected to be busy.
While that hasn’t often been the case of late, with the offseason in 2023, when a midfield rebuild was a necessity, something of an exception, sporting director Richard Hughes will have plenty to think about — even more than Jorg Schmadtke did back then. Multiple incomings will be required and there could be several outgoings too, though the full extent is yet to become clear.
Last year, Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg brought in a substantial sum of money— around $52 million (£40 million) in total from Brentford — but neither was a first-teamer. Neither could have been considered a really big part of the roster last season (nor would they have been this season had they stayed). Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara were both lost too at that point but because of injuries, they effectively fall into the same category.
The year before, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson were among those to leave, but no one who was likely to be a nailed-on starter in the following campaign headed for the exit door. Roberto Firmino and Naby Keita were bit-part players at best.
You probably have to go back to 2022, when Sadio Mane joined Bayern Munich, for the last time that Liverpool lost someone who was a true first XI player. That was through choice — it was the right time for him to move on — and his time in Germany went very badly. It is not controversial to say that his legs might have fallen off had he stayed on Merseyside as well.
This year, however, Liverpool could see some real churn. It could end up losing Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid but there are lots of others whose future is yet to be decided too.
(Image: 2025 Chris Brunskill/Fantasista)
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, of course, are in the same boat as the No. 66 contract-wise, while Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Jarell Quansah are just three of those who have been linked with moves elsewhere. Diaz is the only one who is a definite first XI player, but each has either played a substantial role this season or should do in the future.
Losing someone like that, just as is the case with Alexander-Arnold, would be almost unchartered territory. Liverpool hasn’t been in that kind of position for a long time.
With Nunez, though, even though he has made 40 appearances and played his part to some degree this season, a parting of the ways at least feels like the right course of action. Undoubtedly, his move to England has not worked out in the way that either party would have imagined. His goal record is far from atrocious but he hasn’t fitted into the Reds’ style — and that has only looked less likely under Arne Slot.
There was interest from Saudi Arabia in the Uruguayan in the winter transfer window and Nottingham Forest, according to TeamTalk, are the latest club to register an interest in him ahead of the summer. Atletico Madrid has also been linked, though it has distanced itself from a move having snapped up Julian Alvarez in 2024.
As much as Nunez has not worked at Liverpool — “failed” might be too strong, but “underwhelmed” certainly isn’t — he has still had his moments. Against Brentford in January, for instance, he was the match-winner from nowhere.
If Liverpool does lose him this summer, wherever he goes, he is likely to show those spurts of goals again. Even if he does, though, or even if he suddenly becomes a reliable goalscorer, it is the right time for him to leave.
At Liverpool, it will have been three full seasons that Nunez has had to impress. Yet to nail down a place and having been inconsistent ever since he came in from Benfica, if it was going to click for him there, it would have by now. Like Mane, the player who Nunez replaced, it feels like a good time to cash in on a player who probably needs a new challenge.
Doing so will mean accepting that Nunez could still ignite elsewhere and Liverpool would run the risk of seeing him run riot in Spain, Italy or elsewhere. Sticking with the Uruguayan, though, is unlikely to help anyone.
Difficult choices will have to be made this summer. Even though it is not hard to envisage Nunez producing moments — or even something more sustained — if he moves away, finding an upgrade on him should not be one of them.
