Before Darwin Nunez scored all those Champions League goals and European giants reportedly started fighting each other for his signing, he was already heavily linked to a Premier League side.
One year ago, Brighton & Hove Albion were many times said to be chasing the striker, looking to buy him for a price which was a lot lower than the amount that Liverpool spent to sign him.
This story is today recalled by Portuguese newspaper Record, who claim the Seagulls had indeed been very close to getting the transfer done.
The outlet writes that Darwin had ‘one and a half feet’ at Brighton last summer. It’s claimed the negotiations were in the ‘final stage’, with club officials flying to Lisbon to close the transfer for €28m.
The reason why he could have left for that much is because he had a season with only 14 goals in 44 appearances and had knee surgery. So Benfica would have sold him for just €4m more than what they spent to sign him in 2020.
According to Record, the move to Brighton collapsed because of an issue at the Lisbon side. At the time, their president Luis Filipe Vieira was arrested, and Rui Costa, who took over the position, chose to ‘freeze’ this exit.
The newspaper points out how good that was for the player, who ended up signing for Liverpool. ‘It’s the case to say that it was well worth it to have postponed the jump to England for a year,’ they write.
