Liverpool forced to pay £8.5m after what Darwin Nunez did against Man City

Liverpool will have to pay an £8.5million add-on to Benfica following Darwin Nunez's appearance against Manchester City, according to a report. The Reds striker made his 60th appearance for Jurgen Klopp's side as Liverpool earned a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium thanks to Trent Alexander-Arnold's precise second-half strike which cancelled out Erling Haaland's first-half opener.

The Mirror reports Liverpool have met an add-on clause in the £85million deal they agreed with Benfica to sign Nunez last summer. The up-front fee was reported to be around £64million with the other £21million to be paid in add-ons. One of those clauses, according to the report, was that Liverpool would be required to pay £8.5million if Nunez made 60 appearances.

The Uruguayan hit that milestone against City as he started for Klopp's side before coming off in the 85th minute. He has scored 22 goals in those 60 games, as well as providing 10 assists - all of which have been for Mohamed Salah.

Nunez has undoubtedly enjoyed improved form for the Reds this term, and speaking about his displays this season, Klopp said earlier this month: "Darwin is No.9. He can play the wing as well and it all depends on how we want to work an opponent, where the space is, where you can unleash his full potential, things like this. The thing is, last year, especially when things did not go particularly well, it was super-important that everything was set up perfectly and we needed a No.9 who defended the centre perfectly in a way Darwin was not able to do then. Now he can.

"Now we are set up slightly different with a different confidence level, we used the full pre-season to get used to that. In that moment, when we are defensively stable, then he has to play from the centre. It is to make sure we are compact but we don’t have to judge all the different options of the opponent where they could go through. We got used to Bobby [Firmino] and then Cody [Gakpo] stepped in really well and then all of a sudden Darwin’s first thing should be to stretch the formation and be there. The team needed stability there [last season]."

On the player's increased confidence Klopp added: "It’s the riddle of the life of a striker. You have a few goals already and it makes it easier. He always will miss chances but if you miss the first five before you score it doesn’t feel great. Now he has had a good start to the season and he has scored fantastic goals, different goals, all kinds of goals. He’s in a different moment."