Poyet tells Brighton to break the bank for Darwin Nunez
Every time a transfer window rolls around, the Albion are linked to a certain Uruguay striker. And now, Gus Poyet has become the latest footballing authority to urge Brighton to break the bank to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
Speaking to exclusively to Genting Casino, the former Albion boss who the club wish we would all forget hailed 22-year-old Nunez as the future of Uruguayan football and the man who can finally solve Brighton’s problems with taking chances.
When asked if Brighton should renew their long-standing interest in Darwin Nunez, Poyet said: “No doubt, 100%. I think he is the future of the Uruguayan national team.”
“I think he will be the future number nine when the big guys – Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani – finish. He has a little bit of competition from Maxi Gómez, who plays for Valencia, but Maxi is having some problems with his consistency, but we know Núñez is going to be top.”
“What he done in Spain, playing for Almeria, at an early age of his career, was impressive. And to play for a team like Benfica every week shows his quality.”
“I think if he keeps improving, he’s going to be a top, top number nine. I think he has a great future. It will be nice if Brighton can get him – yeah, no doubt.”
Brighton first expressed an interest in Nunez in the summer of 2020 off the back of him scoring 16 times from 30 appearances for Almeria in La Liga 2.
The Albion have enjoyed plenty of success raiding the Spanish club for striker talent in the past. Both Leonardo Ulloa and Tomer Hemed arrived from Almeira for fees of under £3 million in the space of two-and-a-half years between January 2013 and the summer of 2015.
Nunez though could not be tempted to swap sunny Spain for Sussex by the Sea, instead opting to complete a £21.5 million move to Benfica and the opportunity to compete for Portuguese titles and play Europa League football.
He ended the 2020-21 season with six goals and 10 assists – the second highest total in Portugal’s top flight – leading Benfica to slap a £30 million asking price on his head when the Albion renewed their interest this summer.
Brighton’s pursuit of Nunez was complicated by knee surgery in May which was supposed to rule him out until Christmas. He remarkably returned three months ahead of schedule and has been in scintillating form ever since, winning the Primeira Liga Player of the Month award in both September and October.
Nunez currently has 11 goals from 16 matches in all competitions in 2021-22, including a brace against Barcelona in the Champions League.
On the same weekend that Brighton failed to score from 20 shots when drawing 0-0 with The Leeds United, Nunez was busy banging in a hat-trick against a Belenenses side who only started with nine men because of a Covid outbreak.
When injuries took Belenenses down to seven early in the second half, the game had to be abandoned with Benfica 7-0 ahead. Now that would be a farce worth booing…
With Benfica sitting one point behind leaders Porto in Primeira Liga and on the cusp of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League, it seems unlikely that Nunez would want to leave Estádio da Luz in January should the Albion return with a concrete offer – unless the contract was too tempting to turn down.
And if he continues scoring goals galore, by the time the summer rolls around then bigger and better clubs than Brighton might well be interested in his services. Rumours linking Nunez to Manchester City and Manchester United have already begun appearing.
Breaking the bank sooner rather than later appears to be the Albion’s only hope of landing Nunez. Poyet thinks it would be worth it – will Tony Bloom agree?
