Arne Slot speaks on Darwin Nunez miss as Liverpool prepare to sell mega-money flop

A visibly downcast Arne Slot couldn’t hide his dismay when speaking about Darwin Nunez’s big miss in the 2-2 draw against Aston Villa, while Fabrizio Romano claimed the ‘expectation’ is Liverpool will sell the misfiring striker at season’s end.

Liverpool were held to a draw at Villa Park on Wednesday night, with any suggestions the Reds have already wrapped up the league looking wildly premature.

Liverpool only had themselves to blame, with Diogo Jota spurning a one-v-one opportunity and Darwin Nunez blazing over from a chance of his own.

Nunez’s opening came after Conor Bradley released Dominik Szoboszlai who chose to square the ball rather than attempt to beat Emiliano Martinez.

Nunez raced on to the pass beyond the far post and showed a familiar lack of composure when missing the target completely with his left-footed finish.

It was a moment that summed up Nunez’s Anfield career, with the £64m (rising to £85m) frontman persistently dogged by wasteful finishing, struggles to stay onside and a lack of adequate interplay with his fellow forwards.

Speaking in a press conference post-match, Liverpool boss Slot cut a frustrated figure when breaking the moment down.

“What I saw was an unbelievable pass from Conor Bradley,” began Slot. “And what a power run from Dominik Szoboszlai.

“Who made in my opinion the perfect choice to square it because from a one-v-one with the goalkeeper he made it an open goal chance.

“Yeah… and then Darwin was of course… it was not his best, he’s right-footed of course, but it was still a big chance.

“And yeah… very unlucky and I was hoping that he could’ve got another one because a player like him wouldn’t miss two chances in a row and he was very close afterwards when he went close to Martinez again, but he made a great sliding tackle to win the ball.

“I think we’re all disappointed but it’s normal that a player that missed a chance like this is always a bit more disappointed than the rest.”

The reaction from the Liverpool bench says it all 😩

Darwin Núñez will not want to watch this one back ❌ pic.twitter.com/prNqnE9aDh

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 20, 2025

Liverpool to sell Darwin Nunez

Per Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool came ‘very close’ to selling Nunez to Saudi side Al-Nassr in January.

Liverpool ultimately pulled the plug on the deal despite all parties – including Nunez – being willing to seal the switch.

The fact Liverpool were still in four competitions at the time was cited as one reason why. Another reason since revealed by Romano was none of Liverpool’s summer targets were available to sign in January.

As such, and given Liverpool would have lost a player without landing a replacement in the same window, the Reds resigned a mid-season sale to the scrapheap.

But according to an update from Romano when speaking on his YouTube channel, the expectation is Nunez will move to the Saudi Pro League at the second time of asking in the summer.

“The expectation in the industry of those close to all parties involved in this story is that from Saudi they can return for Darwin Nunez,” declared Romano.

“Let’s see also if something will happen with European clubs maybe interested. But from Saudi they remain keen on Darwin Nunez and so I think Darwin has concrete chances to leave Liverpool in the summer transfer window.

“I told you last week and today I can confirm – there is this feeling that it’s a concrete possibility for Darwin to go and for Liverpool to change something up front.”

Al-Nassr went on to sign Jhon Duran from Aston Villa after missing out on Nunez. That won’t prevent a different Saudi side from signing Nunez, however, with Al-Hilal another club keen on landing the frontman.

On the subject of who Liverpool might sign to replace Nunez, TEAMtalk can confirm the club’s interest in Newcastle’s Alexander Isak is genuine.

However, convincing Newcastle to part ways with their talismanic frontman – valued at £150m – will be almost impossible if Newcastle qualify for the Champions League.

Latest Liverpool news – Mo Salah contract…

In other news, CaughtOffside claim Mohamed Salah definitely wants to sign a new contract at Anfield.

Accordingly, Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, has ‘intensified’ negotiations with Liverpool in the hopes of ironing out an agreement.

The full story – including the simple demand Liverpool have been handed by Salah’s camp – can be found here.