Darwin Nunez reveals why he snubbed Man Utd for Liverpool transfer as £85million man eyes trophies with Reds
DARWIN NUNEZ vowed to become a title winner at Liverpool after joining for £85million.
The striker completed a medical as the Reds agreed to pay Benfica £64m plus add-ons that could reach £21m.
After signing a six-year deal worth £150,000-a-week, Nunez, 22, said: “One of the reasons I came here to Liverpool — to win trophies and titles. I want to win a lot of trophies at Liverpool.
“When I arrived at the training ground, I was really surprised to see the set-up and the structure and all the trophies here.
“You can then imagine yourself winning more trophies.
“And then later on when you come here again and see the trophies on display.
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“You can say, ‘Look, I was a part of that, I was there at that time, winning trophies’.”
Nunez scored 34 times in 41 appearances for Benfica last season — including one in each of the Champions League quarter-final legs against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
He takes over the No 27 shirt recently vacated by Divock Origi.
And will almost certainly replace Sadio Mane once Bayern Munich either meet or go close to the £42m Liverpool want to let him go with one year left of his contract.
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And the 6ft 2in frontman is certain he has made the right choice in a move that could end up costing £10m more than current record buy Virgil van Dijk.
He had pre-transfer talks with Klopp and always made it clear that the red half of Merseyside was his chosen destination after rebuffing interest from both Manchester United and Newcastle.
Nunez stressed: “I’ve played against Liverpool and I’ve seen them in lots of games in the Champions League, and it’s my style of play.
“There are some great players here and it’s going to suit my style of play.
“It’s a very big club and I hope I can give everything that I’ve got in order to help the team.”
He came from humble beginnings in his home country of Uruguay before moving to Spanish second division side Almeria.
And two years ago he joined Portuguese giants Benfica for £20.5m.
Kop boss Klopp feels his arrival will close the gap on rivals Manchester City who pipped them to the Premier League title last season.
Klopp added: “Darwin is a wonderful player, already really good but so much potential to get even better.
“That’s why it’s so exciting, to be honest. His age, his desire, his hunger to be even better than he currently is.
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“He has all the pieces we look for. He can set a tempo, he brings energy, he can threaten space from central and wide areas. He is aggressive and dynamic with his movement.”
Nunez becomes the third Uruguayan behind Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates to play for the Anfield club.
