Liverpool Consider Darwin Núñez Reunion Amid Iraola's Rebuild

Anfield is not just changing. It is being stripped back and rebuilt.

Mohamed Salah has gone. Andy Robertson too. Ibrahima Konaté looks set to follow, seemingly bound for Real Madrid. The spine that carried Liverpool through the Klopp years is being dismantled, and Andoni Iraola walks into a dressing room full of gaps and ghosts.

In the middle of all that churn, one familiar name has reappeared on the radar: Darwin Núñez.

From record buy to free shot

Liverpool paid big money to bring Núñez from Benfica in the summer of 2022, a headline signing of the late Klopp era who never quite matched his fee or his promise on a consistent basis. His time on Merseyside ended with a Premier League winner’s medal, but the story always felt unfinished, the performances never fully aligned with the raw chaos he brought to the frontline.

Now, remarkably, he could walk back through the Shankly Gates for nothing.

TEAMtalk report that Núñez has been offered to a small group of clubs as a free agent, with Liverpool among those seriously in the conversation. Benfica are expected to push hard for a reunion of their own, while there are whispers in Spain that the 26‑year‑old has already given the green light to a return to Anfield.

If that proves true, Liverpool would be getting back a player they once broke the bank for, this time at no transfer cost.

Saudi detour, same Darwin

Núñez’s post-Liverpool adventure has been brief and bruising. He joined Al‑Hilal at the start of the 2025/26 season, stepping into the Saudi Pro League as one of its marquee forwards. The numbers tell a familiar tale.

Nine goals in 24 appearances, including six league goals from a hefty 11.48 expected goals. The volume of chances remained high; the conversion, again, did not. His final outing for Al‑Hilal came in February, when he struck twice in a 2‑1 AFC Champions League Elite win over Al‑Wahda, a reminder of how quickly he can tilt a game when the finishing clicks.

Then the door shut. Al‑Hilal cut him from their squad due to foreign player limits, and his contract has since been mutually terminated. At 26, a striker who once commanded one of the biggest fees in Liverpool’s history is back on the market, weighing up his next move.

Iraola’s problem – and Núñez’s value

Iraola inherits a Liverpool side light on proven firepower. With Salah gone and depth issues already obvious, the new manager cannot afford to be picky about where his goals and chances come from. He needs volume. He needs threat. He needs players who drag defences around and create chaos in the box.

That, for all the frustration he brings, is exactly what Núñez guarantees.

Under Klopp, Núñez was an xG magnet. In the 2023/24 Premier League season he scored 11 league goals but missed 27 big chances. In his debut campaign, he hit nine league goals and spurned 20 big chances. Those numbers infuriated supporters and analysts alike, but they also underlined a crucial point: he gets into scoring positions again and again.

For a coach like Iraola, who demands aggression without the ball and vertical, direct attacks with it, a forward who constantly arrives on the end of moves has serious value, even if he finishes like a streak player rather than a cold-blooded No 9.

A homecoming that makes football sense

This is not about romance. It is about risk and reward.

On a free transfer, Núñez is a different proposition entirely from the record signing who arrived in 2022. The financial gamble shrinks; the tactical upside does not. Used as part of a rotation, rather than as the undisputed focal point, he can stretch games, hammer at tired backlines and keep Liverpool’s attacking intensity high without the weight of expectation that once sat on his shoulders.

Liverpool know the flaws. The supporters remember the missed sitters as vividly as the explosive runs. But they also know how hard it is to find a forward who lives in the penalty area, pulls defenders into bad positions and manufactures chances almost by force of will.

In a summer when Anfield is saying goodbye to icons and bracing for more departures, a flawed but familiar face might be exactly what Iraola needs: a striker who may never be clinical, but who ensures Liverpool never stop knocking on the door.