Fresh Darwin Nunez hint dropped as club boss responds after Liverpool name price

Daily Mirror

5 hours ago

Darwin Nunez continues to be linked with a move to Saudi Arabia with one of the Pro League's clubs interested in him making clear they are ready to do business this summer
Al Hilal chief executive Esteve Calzada has said the club is targeting 'the biggest players' in the transfer window amid interest in Liverpool's Darwin Nunez – but he has warned that they need to see the desire in star names before agreeing to sign them.
Liverpool are said to be willing to accept an offer in the region of £50m to sell Nunez this summer - just months after they rejected a more lucrative proposal for the striker from Saudi Arabia.
‌
Nunez, 25, is expected to leave Anfield after a disappointing campaign in front of goal for the newly minted Premier League champions. And there have already been discussions over a potential move away, according to reports elsewhere.
‌
But should Al Hilal pursue a deal for the Uruguayan striker in the coming weeks, Calzada has made it clear that they will not be just throwing away money for the sake of it.
"We are targeting the biggest players,' Calzada, who is presently in the United States for the Club World Cup, told BBC Sport"We are very ambitious, but we need to see hunger from the player himself and the transaction needs to work out both ways.
"The only thing we've been trying to remind players and agents is that yes, we are from Saudi, but we don't print notes here!
"My role as CEO is to make sure we run the club efficiently, so that we can have the biggest budget possible to have big players, but not at any cost.
"That's why sometimes we basically walk away from negotiations, because we still want players extremely keen on coming, and not only looking for the money."
Calzada also responded to suggestions that his club were interested in a short-term loan deal for Cristiano Ronaldo from Al Nassr, so he could appear at Gianni Infantino's new and controversial competition. But Calzada rubbished the idea of the Portugal star joining from his club's biggest rivals.
‌
He added: "As much as I respect Ronaldo as a huge player, as we all recognise he is, it's certainly completely counter-intuitive that you bring the biggest player of your biggest opponent to play with you. Even more when it's only for three to four weeks.
"We've been trying to see if we can reinforce the team. But some players were with a mindset of 'holidays already', some players were sometimes just asking for too much money, and we're aware that our team is extremely competitive.
"We'll go into the traditional transfer window after the tournament still with the biggest ambitions to see if we can reinforce the team even more."