Fresh Darwin Nunez hint dropped as club boss responds after Liverpool name price
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."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
12 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Ben Doak in shock name change as Premier League club announce £25m signing of Scotland winger from Liverpool
Doak set for new challenge - and a new moniker Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland international Ben Doak has tonight completed his £25million move from Liverpool to Bournemouth. The 19-year-old winger has signed a five-year deal with the Cherries with Liverpool including a buy-back option in the deal which gives them first option of signing him back in the future. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Bournemouth beat competition from several clubs to secure his signature with Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Porto all credited with an interest in the player this summer. Ben Doak, now known as Ben Gannon Doak, has completed a £25m transfer from Liverpool to Bournemouth. (Photo by) | Getty Images In a surprising twist, the south coast club announced the signing of Ben Gannon Doak with the teenager said to have requested the new moniker in order to reflect both parents' names moving forward. 'I'm buzzing to be here,' Doak said of joining Andoni Iraola's side, where he will link up with Scotland team-mate Ryan Christie. 'I feel like it's the right time for me and it's a great opportunity to play regular football at the highest level. The team play very nice football. It's fast and it really suits my game, so I felt like I couldn't say no to the chance to play here.' Doak joined Liverpool from Celtic in 2022 for a compensation fee of £600,000 and went on to make 10 appearances for the Anfield side after being handed his debut by Jurgen Klopp aged 16. He enjoyed a productive loan spell with Middlesbrough last season, scoring three times and providing seven assists in 24 appearances for the Championship club before a thigh injury prematurely ended his campaign in February. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Doak also became a full Scotland international last term, earning six caps after making his senior debut as a substitute against Poland at Hampden last September following his promotion from the Under-21s.
The Herald Scotland
12 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Bournemouth sign Liverpool winger Ben Doak in deal worth up to £25million
Doak spent last season on loan at Championship club Middlesbrough, scoring three goals and registering seven assists in 24 appearances. Bournemouth are understood to have paid an initial £20m and could spend a further £5m in add-ons as they reinvest some of the funds received from a series of lucrative summer departures. Forward Dango Ouattara finalised a £42.5m move to Brentford at the weekend, while the south-coast club had already sold defenders Illia Zabarnyi, Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez to Paris St Germain, Real Madrid and Liverpool respectively for a total of around £150m. Doak is the Cherries' fourth signing of the transfer window following the arrivals of goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, left-back Adrien Truffert and centre-back Bafode Diakite for a combined sum in the region of £70m. He could make his debut during Saturday's top-flight fixture at home to Wolves. Doak had a successful loan spell at Middlesbrough last season (Owen Humphreys/PA) Doak, who has six Scotland caps, began his career with Celtic before moving to Merseyside for £600,000 in 2022. The teenager played 10 times for Liverpool, including three substitute appearances in the Premier League. He was not involved on Friday evening when Arne Slot's reigning champions defeated the Cherries 4-2 in the season-opener at Anfield.
Daily Record
12 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Paraag Marathe teases Rangers transfer timeline as signing rush predicted in 'last few days of the window'
It's a big night for the American who has a unique dual role as chairman at Leeds and vice-chairman at Ibrox Mischievous Paraag Marathe teased plenty of 'activity' in the closing days and weeks of the transfer window. And while the Leeds chairman was primarily talking about what's to come at the Elland Road club, it was a not-so-subtle indication that things are set to ramp up at Rangers too. It's a big night for the American who has a unique dual role as chairman at Leeds and vice-chairman at Ibrox, and after months of Rangers being at the top of his agenda, the real stuff starts for the Yorkshire club tonight when they face Everton in the Premier League curtain-raiser. Marathe and the San Francisco 49ers-backed ownership group have brought Leeds from the doldrums of the Championship back to the big time and, having spent £70m on eight new players already, he was asked in an interview on Sky Sports what he's planning for the rest of the window. And his response indicated there's plenty to be expected – at both clubs under his stewardship. He said: "History shows there's always a lot of activity in the last few weeks of the window, certainly the last few days of the window. We'll exercise every day that we can. "I can't speak for other American owners, I can only speak for myself. I've been in sports for almost three decades now. I love winning, I hate to lose, that's what drives me. "I don't think about the commercial side of it, I think about making this club as successful on the pitch as it can be. "It matters to me. There's no hours in a day or weeks in a year that limit me, it's win or go home. And I just want to do everything I can to get this club as good as it can be." You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers page, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.
