Darwin Nunez left Liverpool for Al Hilal in a £66m deal in the summer, but the striker is reportedly not happy with life in Saudi Arabia and is considering leaving, with River Plate planning a move in 2026.
Darwin Nunez may already be looking for a way out of Saudi Arabia, just months after leaving Liverpool. The Uruguayan forward joined Al Hilal in the summer following the Reds’ success in winning the Premier League, for a transfer fee of around £66 million.
However, reports say the 26-year-old has concerns in the Middle East despite scoring four goals in six appearances as Al Hilal trail Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nasr by four points. Argentine publication Ole has reported that South American giants River Plate have allocated funds within Nunez’s wage structure ahead of the 2026 campaign.
Manager Marcelo Gallardo is said to be “keen” to bring in the former Liverpool star as he prepares to shake up his squad. The paper claims that it has already “phoned” Nuñez about his intention to leave Al Hilal.
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Despite a good start in Saudi Arabia, with two assists for his colleagues, Nunez is thought to be considering his next move. It follows a series of social media posts showing the 26-year-old enjoying a new life following a big-money move to Saudi Arabia.
Six weeks ago, Nuñez shared a collection of images on Instagram, including an action photo of himself celebrating a goal with the caption “Back at It” (blue heart emoji).
Seven weeks ago, he uploaded another photo and declared, “This is just the beginning.”
Nunez’s tenure at Liverpool was divisive after his big-money move from Benfica. The Uruguayan provided some big moments for the Reds, especially during the championship-winning season under manager Arne Slott. He scored twice against Brentford at a crucial stage in the title race. However, despite his brilliance, he endured a long period of goallessness, and at one point was exposed to public criticism from Dutch players, which led to criticism.
Slott was forced to protect the forward during Nunez’s difficult moments. Last December, the former Feyenoord manager backed him after the striker had scored just three goals in 19 appearances.
“For me, he’s an influence,” Slott said. “If you look at just the goals, he’s not scoring as many goals as he wants to, or we want our No. 9 to score, but it’s affecting his work rate. He’s part of a team that’s scoring a lot of goals and winning a lot of games.”
“Of course, as a number nine, I want to score more goals and I’m sure he wants that too. But I’m not just evaluating Mohamed Salah’s goals or Darwin’s goals. I’m also evaluating their work rate and what they bring to the team.”
“Maybe that’s what he wants because the fans are rooting for him so much.”
But by February, he was forced to publicly admonish the striker over his work ethic after a tough afternoon against Aston Villa.
“We can accept every mistake, especially the player who scored two very important goals against Brentford and then scored in the home game against Villa,” he said.
“I want him to score, but the word ‘chance’ says it all. It’s a chance, so you’re not 100 per cent sure the ball will go in, and sometimes players miss chances. I can accept that, but what was a bit hard for me to accept was what he did after that chance. I think it stuck in his mind too much that he wasn’t the usual Darwin who does his job and makes sure he helps the team.”
“I think he was so disappointed after missing that chance and probably, we’ll never know, we’ll never know, but that’s why he was just a few seconds short after that (when he had his next chance).”
“I always truly believe that it’s best to have Wata’s (Wataru Endo) mindset. And what that means is that he doesn’t stop playing throughout the season, he keeps going and he’s ready whenever we need him.”
“It’s very difficult. There aren’t many players who can do that, so it’s not about the chances. It’s more about the next 20 minutes that I want to talk to him about than him missing chances.”
Nunez finished last season with just seven goals in 47 games in all competitions and was sold to Liverpool despite spending a huge amount of money just a few years ago.
