Just recently, Liverpool won the race to sign Darwin Nunez. He was definitely one
of the best strikers in Europe last season, and Liverpool have surely gotten for themselves a gem.
But you now, the thing with players that good is, they attract a whole lot of interest from many
clubs. And the same happened in the case of Nunez. In this video, we'll talk about some of these
clubs who were interested in Nunez, and the absurd reasons they didn't sign him.
So here are 5 clubs who missed out on Darwin Nunez for ridiculous reasons.
1) Manchester United: Okay, if you ever needed a proof that bad
luck exists, then this is definitely it. Earlier this year, Man United had already scheduled
a meeting with Benfica. This was even before Liverpool showed any real interest. But somehow,
the most absurd thing happened very close to the meeting. Benfica's president Rui Costa had food
poisoning. And just so you know how bad it was, his entire family was also affected. Oh, but wait,
you don't have be scared. It's not that they were poisoned, food poisoning just means they
ate some contaminated food which made them sick in the stomach for a little while. And well,
Rui Costa had to cancel the meeting to save himself a major embarrassment.
Imagine turning up for discussions and having to run off to the restroom every 10 minutes
to answer the call of nature. Surely nobody wants that, so you would agree
that he was right to call off the meeting Only problem with this was that Man United
didn't know about the reason the meeting was called off. So they actually thought Benfica
deliberately snubbed them. And well, they weren't very interested in a club that doesn't respect
them. So they declined any further meeting, essentially ending any hopes of the deal.
2) FC Barcelona: Before we go on, it may
interest you that Barca already had interest in him even before he joined Benfica. Yep,
that's right. At Almeria in Spain, he had an impressive campaign in 2019/2020 season as he
got 16 goals in 30 games. Now, just because Almeria and Barcelona play in the same country,
it was easy for the Catalan club to spot the youngster, and so they made a bid for him.
Now, you're probably wondering why the deal didn't happen despite that bid. Well the answer is
simple. The bid simply wasn't good enough. That's right, they actually bid 8 million pounds for him.
Now, we're not sure if they just wanted to test the waters with that offer or it they
really thought it would be enough to get the man, but Almeria actually turned it down immediately.
Because really, 8 million for a young sensation like Nunez? That was a totally ridiculous offer,
and they should consider themselves quite lucky that Almeria didn't block them
instantly on all platforms. Now, we're not sure if it was
a case of being broke or being stingy, but Barcelona didn't increase that offer,
yet for some weird reason they kept hoping it would be accepted. Of course it wasn't,
and when Benfica came with an offer that was about 3 times that amount, they got the man.
3) Brighton and Hove albion:
What you're about to hear might surprise you, but as unlikely as it might sound,
Brighton were actually very close to signing the player last year. No kidding, they were so close
to signing him, that a 24 million pounds price had basically been agreed, club officials were already
in Portugal to seal the deal. But at the very late stages, something very unexpected happened.
Benfica's president got arrested. And well, due to the charges against him,
he was eventually placed on house arrest. Now, we know people are able to work from their homes,
but that doesn't apply to running a football club, so Luis Vieira had to step down as president.
By now you probably already know where we're going with this. When Vieira stepped down,
that role was taken by vice president Rui Costa, and well, let's just say he wasn't a fan of that
move happening. So the deal which was already 90% done, essentially got cancelled. Well,
considering the fact that they ended up selling him for 85 million pounds just a year later,
guess it's safe to say Benfica must the feeling glad the deal didn't happen back then.
. 4) West Ham United:
Remember how we said Brighton were close to signing the man from Benfica last summer?
Well guess what? They aren't the only English club who came close to signing
the man from Benfica in the past 12 months. You see, in January this year West ham were
linked with the signing of Nunez. As a matter of fact, they were confident of sealing the deal.
But just like the case of the others in this video, that deal broke down, and guess why?
Well the reason that deal didn't go through was just because West Ham couldn't add a couple more
million pounds to their offer. That's right. When Benfica asked them to pay 55 million euros to sign
him in January, West Ham offered just 45 million euros and weren't willing to go any higher.
would have scored the goals they needed to win the europa league? Well, we think so.
5) Sheffield United: Hehe, yeah, we know what
you're thinking. This is definitely not a name you expected to see here, as they're in a lower
division and so you may consider Nunez to be totally out of their league - Pun intended.
Remember how in 2020 Barca fumbled the signing of Nunez from Almeria and Benfica took advantage?
Well it turns out those two weren't even the first to be linked to the player. Yep,
that's right. Even as at 2019 before he was signed by Almeria, Sheffield had already shown interest
in him. Hehe, surprised? Don't be. It's true that Nunez is totally out of their league right now,
but back in 2019 it was a move that the player would have actually grabbed with both arms.
Well, that's simply because at that time Sheffield had just gained promotion to the Premier league,
and Nunez was still playing in the Uruguayan league. So a move at the time would have
been a significant upgrade for him. But for no reason, they simply looked
away from him and he was signed up by Almeria in the Spanish 2nd division. Sheffield would
later regret that decision, because in their very first season back in the Premier league,
they really struggled to score goals. Just so you know how bad it was, their highest goal
scorer for that season finished with a total of 6 goals all season. Yep, it was that bad.
This lack of goals also continued in their 2nd season in the league, and it ultimately
cost them their Premier league place as they got relegated that season.
So, now that you've heard all of that, what club had the most ridiculous reason for not
signing him? Do let us know what you think in the comments section. If you liked this video,
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