Nunez

Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez completes $62m move from Premier League champions Liverpool to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal.

The Saudi Arabian soccer league has secured its latest marquee signing after Darwin Nunez completed the move from Liverpool to Al Hilal on Saturday.

The Uruguay international cost a reported 46.3 million pounds ($62m) and has signed a three-year contract.

Al Hilal, Saudi Arabia’s most successful team, has been searching for another star signing after releasing Brazil great Neymar in January.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes rejected a move before the Club World Cup in June, and there was also reported interest in former Napoli striker Victor Osimhen.

Nunez leaves Liverpool after a mixed time in the Premier League, where he produced some spectacular moments but could not establish himself as the Merseyside club’s first-choice centre forward. He scored 40 goals in 143 games and won the Premier League title last season.

But he made only one league start from the turn of the year and scored just seven goals in 47 total appearances last term.

In a summer when Liverpool has reinforced its attack with the signings of Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz, along with interest in Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, Nunez’s position had been in doubt.

He follows a slew of players who have left Europe’s top leagues for Saudi Arabia since Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Al Nassr in 2022.

Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez are some of the high-profile names to make the switch as Saudi Arabia has mounted an ambitious recruitment drive to establish itself as a major player in global soccer.

Al Hilal, which produced one of the biggest upsets at the Club World Cup by eliminating Manchester City, already has a host of marquee players, including Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Joao Cancelo and Aleksandar Mitrovic.

It is also coached by two-time Champions League runner-up Simone Inzaghi.

It has won a record 19 Saudi league titles as well as four Asian championships, but was beaten to the title by Al-Ittihad last season.

Chelsea are offered the chance to sign Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez, Jarell Quansah to have Bayer Leverkusen medical and Liverpool close in on Marc Guehi.

Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez for £45m, though the 32-year-old Argentina goalkeeper is believed to prefer a move to Manchester United. (Mirror), external

Manchester United are prepared to open formal talks over a deal to sign Martinez after they sell Cameroon keeper Andre Onana, 29. (Football Insider), external

Liverpool’s 22-year-old English defender Jarell Quansah will have a medical at Bayer Leverkusen on Monday before a £35m move to the German club. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Liverpool are closing in on a deal to sign Crystal Palace’s 24-year-old England centre-back Marc Guehi. (Mirror), external

Darwin Nunez is ready to join Napoli this summer but the Italian club are unwilling to met Liverpool’s £70m valuation of the 26-year-old Uruguay striker. (Mirror), external

Manchester United may have to pay players to leave the club this summer because of their lengthy, expensive contracts, with 27-year-old England striker Marcus Rashford and 20-year-old Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho among those they want to sell. (Telegraph – subscription required), external

Sunderland have agreed a club-record £30m fee with Strasbourg for 21-year-old Senegal midfielder Habib Diarra. (Guardian), external

Nottingham Forest have made a £5m bid for Real Mallorca’s Spanish full-back Pablo Maffeo, 27. (El Chiringuito – in Spanish), external

Newcastle and Burnley are still far apart in their valuation of James Trafford, with the Magpies having had an initial bid worth £25m for the 22-year-old England Under-21s goalkeeper turned down. (Sky Sports), external

Crystal Palace are prepared to rival Newcastle, Liverpool and Tottenham with a move to sign Southampton’s 19-year-old English winger Tyler Dibling this summer. (Football Insider), external

Nico Williams has told Barcelona he wants to join them from Athletic Bilbao but the Spain winger, 22, has demanded that he is able to be registered to play, which could mean Barca have to sell players first, in order to meet La Liga’s financial requirements. (Marca – in Spanish), external

Al-Nassr have already reached an agreement to send Colombia striker Jhon Duran, 21, on loan to Fenerbahce. (Foot Mercato – in French), external

Birmingham City have expressed an interest in signing £7.5m-rated ex-Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi, 30, from French Ligue 1 side Rennes. (Sponichi Annex – via Scottish Sun), external

Turkish club Trabzonspor have agreed a fee in the region of £6.8m (€8m) with Southampton for striker Paul Onuachu, 31, and negotiations over personal terms are ongoing. (Fabrizio Romano), external

The Saints have rejected a £10m (€12m) bid for winger Kamaldeen Sulemana, 23, from Italian Serie A side Atalanta, who are managed by former Southampton boss Ivan Juric. (Sky Sports), external

Southampton and Sheffield United face stiff competition from Leeds, Wolves and four German Bundesliga clubs to sign French striker Willem Geubbels, 23, from Swiss Super League side St Gallen after he netted 14 goals in 31 games last season. (L’Equipe – in French), external

Watford are set to sign Udinese defender James Abankwah, 21, and Chelsea left-back Caleb Wiley, 20, on loan again for the 2025-26 campaign after they both spent the second half of last season with the Hornets. (Sky Sports), external

Wrexham are targeting a move for former England duo Danny Ings, 32, and Aaron Cresswell, 35, from Premier League side West Ham United. (Mirror), external

Middlesbrough have shown interest in signing Chelsea defender Alfie Gilchrist, 21, who spent last season on loan at Championship rivals Sheffield United. (Yorkshire Post), external

Blackburn Rovers winger Tyrhys Dolan has drawn interest from Norwich City and Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers with the 23-year-old’s contract at Ewood Park set to expire this summer. (Football League World), external

Blackpool are interested in signing Millwall midfielder George Honeyman, 30, and Birmingham City midfielder Brandon Khela, 20, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Bradford City. (Blackpool Gazette), external

Liverpool set for Bradley Barcola swoop, Premier League trio interested in Jadon Sancho, Everton and Newcastle lead Jack Grealish race.

Liverpool are set to swoop for Paris St-Germain’s 22-year-old France forward Bradley Barcola – even after completing a deal for Bayer Leverkusen’s Germany attacker Florian Wirtz, 22. (Sun), external

Aston Villa, Newcastle and Tottenham are monitoring developments with Jadon Sancho, 25, after the England winger’s return to Manchester United following his loan spell at Chelsea. (Sun), external

Everton and Newcastle are leading the race to sign England forward Jack Grealish, 29, from Manchester City this summer. (Football Insider), external

Bayer Leverkusen are considering a move for Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah, 22. (Athletic – subscription required), external

Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez is likely to leave Liverpool this summer, with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal making contact about the 25-year-old this week. (Talksport), external

Nunez, though, is understood to favour staying in Europe, with a move to Spain or Italy his preference. (Mirror), external

Athletic Bilbao hope to agree a pay rise and contract extension with 22-year-old Spain winger Nico Williams, to stave off interest from Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Chelsea. (Marca – in Spanish), external

Williams has told Bayern he is open to a move to Germany and his management is in talks with the Bundesliga champions. (Sky Sports Germany), external

Germany winger Leroy Sane, 29, has rejected an offer from Al-Hilal and agreed to join Galatasaray after talks over a new contract with Bayern Munich failed. (Sky Sport Germany), external

Newcastle among clubs set to hold talks with Liam Delap but Manchester United lead race to sign Ipswich striker, Manchester City will battle Liverpool for Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.

Newcastle United are among the clubs set to hold talks with Ipswich Town’s 22-year-old English striker Liam Delap this week. (Talksport), external

Manchester United lead the race to sign Delap but a defeat in the Europa League final and consequential inability to offer him European football next season would hand Chelsea the advantage. (ESPN), external

Manchester City will battle Liverpool for 21-year-old Bournemouth and Hungary left-back Milos Kerkez. (i paper – subscription required), external

Brighton have agreed a deal to sign 27-year-old French defender Olivier Boscagli on a free transfer from PSV Eindhoven. (Sky Sports), external

Liverpool have received enquiries from the Saudi Pro League over 25-year-old Uruguay forward Darwin Nunez, Portugal forward Diogo Jota and Colombia winger Luis Diaz, both 28. (Sky Germany), external

Manchester United are set to proceed with paying Wolves the £62.5m release clause in instalments for 25-year-old Brazil forward Matheus Cunha. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Manchester United are also hoping they can tempt Sporting and Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres, 26, to sign for them this summer. (L’Equipe – in French) , external

Aston Villa are not planning to stand in the way of Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, 32, if it becomes clear he wants to leave Villa Park. (Givemesport) , external

Chelsea are understood to have opened talks with Ajax over a potential transfer deal for Netherlands defender Jorrel Hato, 19, who is also a target for Liverpool and Arsenal. (Caughtoffside) , external

Barcelona have reached an agreement with Brazil forward Raphinha over a new deal that will keep the 28-year-old at the club until June 2028. (Fabrizio Romano) , external

Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo might leave at the end of the season because of internal tensions at the club. (Footmercato – in French) , external

Leicester City are poised to sack manager Ruud van Nistelrooy and are in advanced talks to appoint former Southampton boss Russell Martin. (Football Insider) , external

Manchester United have made a move for Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo, while Cristiano Ronaldo could be heading to Brazil and Aston Villa are keen on Ferran Torres.

Manchester United have made an offer of 65m euros (£54m) for Brentford’s Cameroon striker Bryan Mbeumo, 25, who has a year left on his current contract. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external

Al-Nassr striker Cristiano Ronaldo, 40, has received an offer from an unnamed Brazilian club, which would allow the Portugal star to play in the Fifa Club World Cup which starts in June. (Marca – in Spanish) , external

Aston Villa are interested in Barcelona forward Ferran Torres, 25, and prepared to offer around 50m euros (£42m) for the Spain international. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish), external

English manager Will Still, 32, is in talks to become Southampton boss after leaving French club Lens. (Independent), external

Lyon’s 21-year-old French winger Rayan Cherki, a target for Manchester United and Liverpool, has confirmed he will leave the French side his summer. (Goal), external

Manchester United are also keen on Sporting and Portugal midfielder Pedro Goncalves, 26, this summer. (Teamtalk), external

Atletico Madrid are among several clubs interested in Aston Villa’s Argentine midfielder Enzo Barrenechea, 23, who is on loan at Valencia. (Birmingham Mail), external

Bayern Munich have not lost hope of keeping former Manchester City winger Leroy Sane at the club, with the 29-year-old Germany international out of contract next month. (Bild – in German), external

Nottingham Forest are keen to tie down England pair, midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, 25, and winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, 24, to new contracts as soon as possible. (Football Insider), external

Napoli need a new centre-forward for next season and are plotting a move for either Lille’s out-of-contract Canada striker Jonathan David, 25, or Liverpool’s Uruguay forward Darwin Nunez, 25. (Calciomercato – in Italian), external