Liverpool player who gave Firmino a lesson in humility, collecting bottles to sell them

The Darwin Nunez story is all about the shocking multi-million pound fee that Liverpool paid to land the striker from Portuguese football. But behind so many exorbitant figures is a touching life story, with a very tough childhood that the footballer went through to become one of the most sought-after players in the world. A story that comes to light just hours before Uruguay's debut at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The son of Silvia Ribeiro and Bibiano Núñez, the footballer was born on 24 June 1999 in Artigas, Uruguay, located near the Cuareim River, where he spent most of his childhood before joining Peñarol's boarding house as a teenager. There, his father worked in construction and his mother took care of houses, and even collected bottles from the street to sell them and bring home a plate of food. Although the family often had to spend the whole day on an empty stomach, his mother was the one who made sure that her two children could feed themselves.

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While Darwin Núñez was already playing for Peñarol's youth teams, a family problem meant that one of the two brothers had to give up his dream of becoming a professional footballer to help his parents. It was then that Junior told Darwin to stay in Montevideo, as he was "the one with a future for this".

His performance at Benfica attracted the attention of the main European clubs, most of whom were looking for a new centre-forward to face the season: FC Barcelona acquired Lewandowski, Bayern Munich acquired Sadio Mané and Manchester City acquired Erling Haaland, among others. With the departure of Mané, Liverpool had to go to the market in search of goals and the objective was clear: to buy Núñez at any cost, as he was an obsession for German coach Jürgen Klopp. In order to secure his services, the English club had to pay 80 million euros (plus another 20 million euros in variables) to Benfica. If a series of objectives set out in the agreement are met, Darwin Núñez's salary will rise to a price of 100,000,000 euros. Shocking.

From poverty to costing 100 million

The transfer became the most expensive in Liverpool's history, while Nunez became the most expensive Uruguayan footballer in history, surpassing the transfers of Luis Suarez to Barcelona (80 million) and Edinson Cavani to Paris Saint-Germain (64 million). His start in England was not the best, but over time he managed to adapt successfully to the fast-paced style of play: prior to Qatar 2022, Núñez scored nine goals (one in the Community Shield final win over Manchester City), while averaging more than six shots on target per 90 minutes, the highest in England since the 2003-2004 season.