Liverpool have signalled that Darwin Nuñez will not be sold in January at any fee and so Al-Nassr have set their sights on Jhon Duran.
Few Liverpool fans or pundits will have seriously expected the club to consider selling key first team players in the midst of both a Premier League title race and push for European glory, but that hasn’t stopped the transfer chatter surrounding Darwin Nuñez this month.
In particular, the past week or two have seen rumours swirling of Saudi interest, with Al-Nassr said to be targeting the striker as they scramble to replace the departing Neymar. If there were any doubts about Liverpool’s stance, though, they now appear to have been put to bed.
Reports in recent days had Al-Nassr exploring Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface and Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran as alternatives, and now there are claims in L’Equipe that Duran will be Al-Nassr’s man with Villa willing to accept a £59M offer for the 21-year-old native of Medellin.
That Villa would be willing sellers seems slightly surprising. It’s also slightly eyebrow-raising that at 21 years of age Duran would chase a Saudi payday rather than further developing his career in Europe and seeking a lucrative move to a bigger club in a season or two.
For both Aston Villa and Duran, though, it seems that payday is an offer too big to refuse, and so a Villa side in the Champions League knockouts and pushing for a European finish domestically appear set to let a key player depart as the January window prepares to slam shut.