Darwin Nunez's Saudi Adventure Ends Quietly

Darwin Nunez’s Saudi adventure is ending not with a bang, but with a quiet, calculated cut.

Twelve months after Al Hilal paid €53 million to take him from Liverpool – a player for whom the Premier League club had once sanctioned a package rising to £85m when he arrived from Benfica – the Uruguayan is preparing to walk away on a free. From record investment to contract termination in a single season. That is a brutal write-off by any standard.

Yet this is not just a story of form and frustration. It is also a story of numbers on a spreadsheet and a rulebook that leaves no room for sentiment.

Benzema arrives, Nunez disappears

The turning point came in January, when Karim Benzema landed in Riyadh.

Al Hilal did not simply add a superstar. They triggered a chain reaction. The Saudi Pro League’s foreign-player regulations are unforgiving: each club can register only 10 foreign players, with a maximum of eight over the age of 20 and two under-20s. Someone had to give.

That someone was Nunez.

In the winter window, Al Hilal withdrew his league registration to make room for Benzema. On paper, it was a straightforward compliance decision. In reality, it underlined where Nunez stood in the pecking order once the former Real Madrid striker walked through the door.

The numbers did not protect him. Before his exclusion, Nunez had 22 appearances, nine goals and five assists. Not disastrous, but nowhere near the return expected of a marquee signing. Benzema needed far less time to underline the gap in class and status. Since his arrival in early February, he has already matched Nunez’s nine goals and five assists – and done it in 10 fewer games.

The pressure finally told. When a club is stacking elite names under a strict foreign quota, the player with decent output but limited impact is always vulnerable. Nunez became that player.

From Champions League braces to the sidelines

The timing for Nunez could hardly be worse.

At 26, this should be the prime of his career, the period in which he nails down his place for club and country. Instead, he has not played a competitive club match since 16 February.

The irony is that his last meaningful contribution in Al Hilal colours came on a big stage. In the final group game of the AFC Champions League, still eligible and still involved, Nunez scored twice. It looked like a platform to rebuild confidence and rhythm.

Then came the knockout rounds. He was nowhere to be seen.

Left out of the squad for the round-of-16 tie in April, he watched Al Hilal’s exit from the outside. For a forward trying to convince national-team staff that he is sharp, hungry and indispensable, those empty weeks have been a heavy blow.

World Cup clock is ticking

All of this plays out against the looming backdrop of the World Cup this summer.

Nunez remains in the conversation for Uruguay, but his status has shifted. In the March friendlies against England and Algeria, he did not start either game. Instead, he came off the bench late in both, a role that suggests he is now fighting to stay on the plane rather than leading the line by right.

Those minutes might prove crucial. They should be enough to secure him a place in the squad, if only because his profile and past performances still carry weight. Yet match sharpness matters at international level, and a forward short of club football always runs the risk of being overtaken by a rival with fresher legs.

A Premier League twist?

So where next?

With Al Hilal ready to let him go for nothing, the market has stirred. Reports of Premier League interest from Newcastle United and Chelsea hint at a familiar pattern: English clubs sensing an opportunity in a distressed asset, a player whose talent is not in doubt but whose trajectory has stalled.

A free transfer changes the equation. It removes the heavy fee that once framed every performance and every miss. Any club taking him now would be gambling on potential and pedigree, not trying to justify a record outlay.

For Nunez, it is a crossroads. One year after leaving Liverpool, he could be heading back to England with a point to prove, a reputation to repair and a World Cup place to protect.

The Saudi project moved on without him. The question now is whether the next chapter finally allows him to stop being the expendable name on a squad list and start being the forward he was supposed to become.