Surprising truth behind Darwin Nunez to Chelsea revealed

Robin Bairner

• 8 Apr 2026 04:30 CDT
• 4 min read

News

Chelsea’s hunt for a striker to replace the misfiring Liam Delap has led them to contact former Liverpool hitman Darwin Nunez.

The Blues have been linked with a sensational million move for the Uruguay international, who would be a like-for-like swap for Delap, who has only scored two goals in 32 appearances since arriving from Ipswich last summer.

Nunez finds himself frozen out in Saudi Arabia, where limits on the number of foreign players have left him out in the cold after Al-Hilal signed Karim Benzema in the winter transfer window.

Now he is willing to slash his wages to return to Europe, according to TeamTalk, and Chelsea have taken an interest.

Darwin Nunez: A player in ‘rapid decline’

Nunez had a mixed three-year spell at Liverpool, during which he scored 25 Premier League goals but became a fan favourite with his attitude and work rate.

Would this translate to the 25-year-old becoming a success at Chelsea?

SciSports suggests that the margin for error in this deal is large. Although Nunez still has impressive potential, the recent trend in his development has been alarming.

His level has been plummeting downwards over the last six months, with SciSports describing his form as having been in ‘rapid decline’.

To put this into perspective, Nunez only managed to score six goals in 16 appearances in the Saudi Pro League this season.

Most of the Saudi Pro League's leading scorers are netting at a rate of one per game. Ivan Toney, for example, has 26 in 26 for Al Ahli while Cristiano Ronaldo has 23 in 23 for Al Nassr.

Nunez’s goal rate is eclipsed by the likes of Joshua King and Gini Wijnaldum and is more akin to that of veteran forward Alexandre Lacazette, the former Arsenal forward. This is not the bar that Chelsea expect of their centre-forwards and too often in recent seasons they have been let down by their No.9s.

Here’s the upside…

It’s too early to write the obituaries for Nunez’s career. Even if his current form is showing an alarming downward trend, he’s not yet hit his peak and has clearly been battling in an environment that does not optimise him.

SciSports shows this with his potential Skill level of 78.5, which exceeds that of Delap (75.6) and is higher than Joao Pedro’s current level (72.2).

His price is also likely to be comparatively attractive given that he is clearly surplus to requirements at Al Hilal. If they were able to complete a deal around his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €33m, it would start to look like reasonable business.

Regardless, it’s clear that the signing Nunez would be a gamble, and with supporter unrest over their transfer policy, it’s one that the Blues can scarcely afford to get wrong.

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•App Store