Luis Suarez has revealed that he urged Barcelona to sign compatriot Darwin Nunez while he was still at the Camp Nou.
Nunez is one of the hottest properties in Europe at the minute. Having impressed in Portugal, the 22-year-old brought his form into the Champions League, where he was influential as Benfica defeated Barcelona 3-0.
Sadly for Barcelona fans who were watching the game in awe of the striker, they could have had him on their books several years earlier, had the club’s hierarchy listened to Luis Suarez.
Quoted by the SPORTbible, Suarez revealed that he had urged Barca to sign Nunez while appearing as a guest on Gerard Romero’s Twitch stream. Barcelona fans, look away now…
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“When he was at Almeria, I said it at Barca.”
“They asked me and I said ‘look after this guy, he’s very interesting’, but they said no, he’s at Almeria, he’s very young. But instead of paying now 80, 90, or 100 million, they would have paid 15 or 20.”
According to Portuguese outlet Record (as cited by Sport Witness), Nunez’s buyout clause at Benfica stands at an eye-watering €150m [£127.1m]. It’s a very expensive mistake for Barca to rectify.
The Catalan giants’ opportunity has passed, with Martin Braithwaite and Luuk de Jong now leading their line instead of one of the most prolific and exciting strikers in the game. What a sorry state of affairs…