The 25-year-old moved to Merseyside during the summer of 2022 for an initial fee of £64million. The deal, however, included add-ons totalling £21million.

If his g worked out, he would, comfortably, be the club’s most expensive purchase, suring the £75million paid for Virgil van Dijk.

It all started off so well for the former Benfica man, too. He won a penalty and scored a goal in the Community Shield victory over Manchester City to kick-off the 2022/23 campaign.

The Uruguay international managed to steal the spotlight away from Erling Haaland during his brief cameo at the King Power Stadium.

Darwin then changed the game for Liverpool off of the bench in the season opener against Fulham at Craven Cottage. He scored and assisted in a 2-2 draw.

A red card in his first start for the Reds, a game against Crystal Palace at Anfield, definitely impacted his settling in period. And he was playing catch-up after that.

His suspension coincided with injuries to Liverpool attackers. Jurgen Klopp was forced to tweak things to paper over the cracks. The German tactician started to change the system on what felt an almost weekly basis.

The Reds used a variety of shapes over a short period, with Klopp seeing how things looked in a 4-3-3, a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-4-2. Darwin’s role changed, too. He went from leading the line to being partnered in attack before ultimately being shifted out wide on the left.

Darwin Nunez's g hasn't worked out for Liverpool

Klopp spoke openly about his No27, saying: "The potential is incredible. It’s not only speed, the attitude is really good, he is a real worker, some people out there aren’t sure technically, but it’s incredible. He doesn’t bring it on the pitch at the moment all the time but it’s nothing to do with technique. It’s all possible to develop. It’s really exciting, but where it could go I have no idea."

The Reds continued to struggle though.

The midfield was a huge issue but the lack of protection from the forward line was also a problem. The solution? Cody Gakpo ed in January 2023 and was deployed as a false-nine.

Darwin, moved to the left, had a disappointing end to his debut campaign in England.

His second season in the Premier League was just as frustrating. Yes, he started more games and yes, he scored more goals. But he managed just over 2,000 minutes in the English top-flight. The one-time Almeria man wasn’t a guaranteed starter for the Reds.

In fact, he started just five of the final 10 matches in the Premier League. He failed to start any of the final four games.

Again, it was a disappointing end.

A new manager at Anfield was supposed to present the No9 with a fresh start.

But, if anything, the 2024/25 season was the worst of his Liverpool career.

Fewer minutes than ever before and a reduced goal threat. His time at Anfield is up.

Arne Slot hasn't been able to get the best out of Darwin Nunez

He’s going to leave the club having scored just 25 league goals. Mohamed Salah scored more than that last term.

Darwin chipped in with 13 assists too. If we’re being honest, 38 goal involvements across 4,875 minutes isn’t a bad return at all, all things considered.

He played different roles in different systems under different managers. Despite the changes, he remained fairly consistent as a goal threat, averaging an expected goals involvement (xGI) of 0.9 in his debut season and 0.95 during the 2023/24 campaign.

Last season, it dropped off to 0.56 as Arne Slot moved away from using the enigmatic centre-forward as a primary threat.

He just wasn’t the goalscorer many thought the club was g. Darwin underperformed as a finisher. He had an expected goals (xG) haul of 33.7 during this period.

In 2025, he made just four starts for Liverpool. These arrived in the FA Cup against Accrington Stanley, the Carabao Cup against Spurs, the Champions League against Lille and the Premier League against Southampton.

It is quite clear that he’s not part of Slot’s plans.

It was quite clear that, despite being a Klopp pick, he wasn’t really part of the German’s plans either. It’s why, at the end of every season, he was barely involved.

And this is why his g has been such a disaster.

'His g has been such a disaster'

His arrival was always seen as a gamble. Dr. Ian Graham, the former Head of Research at Liverpool, said as much. When assessing the forward ahead as a candidate, he raised some queries.

"The difficulty with Nunez was that he was a very different type of player to Firmino. My questions were: ‘Are we going to change our style or formation for him?’ Is he a good enough player that it might be worth making those changes?’.

"It was something we had resisted for many years.

"We went through the same data process for Nunez as with other players. I wanted to make sure that everyone knew what a big change it would be with Nunez.

"It was more, ‘Are we sure we’re going to make the best use of him?’."

By all s, they weren’t overly convinced. In a piece for The Times in 2024, Paul Joyce confirmed that Darwin was Klopp’s choice and that the recruitment team at Anfield had their eye on someone else.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gives a speech

Jurgen Klopp wanted to bring Nunez to the club

"Nunez was very much a Klopp g (Liverpool’s recruitment thinktank preferred Christopher Nkunku, then of RB Leipzig, who has spent this season injured at Chelsea) and the manager spoke about how it is his responsibility to provide the player with the confidence to perform."

Klopp got his man and then seemed to regret his decision.

After initially buying into the idea of using Darwin as the primary goal threat and ensuring everything was funnelled his way, turning Salah into more of a creator in the process, the manager seemed to realise he couldn’t trust the No9.

Gakpo arrived and Salah was given more of the goalscoring responsibilities again.

Darwin was impactful. But he wasn’t reliable enough and neither Liverpool manager trusted him enough to build their attack around him.

He was supposed to lead the attack at Anfield for the best part of a decade. Instead, he’s leaving after three frustrating years and the Reds need to navigate a difficult market to bring in a successor.

Safer gambling

We are committed in our of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.