What is Darwin Núñez Net Worth and Salary?
Darwin Núñez is a professional football player from Uruguay with a $40 million fortune. Darwin Núñez is a forward for Uruguay’s national team and Liverpool in the Premier League. He graduated from the youth academy of Club Atlético Peñarol. He first signed with Spanish Segunda División team Almería in 2019, however, the following year he moved to Benfica for a club-record transfer price. In 2022, Liverpool acquired him for a sum of €75 million.
Among his accomplishments are the Bola de Prata, which he received for being the Primeira Liga’s top scorer, as well as the titles of Player of the Year and Team of the Year. Additionally, he has played for Uruguay at both the young and senior levels, most notably in the Copa América in 2024 and the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Early Life
Darwin On June 24, 1999, in Artigas, Artigas Department, Gabriel Núñez Ribeiro was born. His parents, Silvia Ribeiro, a milk bottle vendor, and Bibiano Núñez, a constructor, were also there. Núñez was raised in poverty and believed football was his only path to a brighter future. Scouts took notice of his skills when he started playing football at the local teams La Luz and San Miguel. After that, he relocated to the nation’s capital, Montevideo, to enroll in Peñarol’s youth academy.
Núñez was experiencing severe homesickness at the academy, so he returned home and spent time with his family. A year later, he joined Peñarol again. His severe cruciate ligament injury at the age of 17 necessitated two surgeries and kept him out of commission for more than a year. His older brother gave up playing football to help support the family while he recovered. It was then that Núñez recognized he had to recover swiftly and take care of his entire family.
Early Career
On November 22, 2017, Núñez made his Peñarol first team debut in a 1-1 Primera División away loss to River Plate. On October 13, 2018, he scored his first goal as a professional in a victory over Fénix at home. He signed a five-year contract with Spanish Segunda División club Almería on August 29, 2019, for a club record cost of about $4.5 million + $1.5 million in variables. With 16 goals, he tied for fourth place in the league’s top scorers at the end of his only season with Almería.
Benfica
On September 4, 2020, Núñez signed a five-year contract with Benfica after the Portuguese club paid a club record €24 million for his transfer. He netted the first goal for the team with a hat-trick in a group-stage encounter of the UEFA Europa League on October 22. He earned his first Primeira Liga goal a few days later.
Darwin Núñez scored two vital goals in the quarterfinals of the 2021–22 Champions League against Liverpool, the English powerhouse. Everyone was in a frenzy after his performance. Núñez’s future was so bright that even Jürgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, expressed his optimism. With 26 goals in 28 league games at the end of the season, he won the Bola de Prata award as the Primeira Liga’s top scorer. Benfica was declared the league champions, while Darwin was selected both the Player of the Year and a member of the Team of the Year, adding to the victory.
Liverpool
Núñez was transferred by Benfica to Liverpool on June 13, 2022, for a record-breaking €75 million + a further €25 million. Núñez quickly resumed his play from his time at Benfica, scoring his initial league goal for the new team and setting up Salah’s goal during his Fulham debut. He scored Liverpool’s first Champions League goal on October 12 in a 7-1 victory over Rangers away from home.
During the earlier part of the season, Núñez faced a lot of criticism for missing a lot of great opportunities in games. At the end of the season, he made 42 appearances and managed just 15 goals in all competitions. He suffered another injury near the end of the season, which prevented him from competing in Liverpool’s 2024 EFL Cup victory over Chelsea. The supporters acknowledged him for his contributions during the EFL Cup campaign, albeit in his absence.
International Career
Núñez progressed through the Uruguayan youth team’s divisions and competed for the under-20 team that placed third in the South American U-20 Championship in 2019. Additionally, he was a member of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2019 squad that advanced to the round of 16. He also competed for the under-22 team in the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru, where they placed fourth.
He was first called up to the senior national team in September 2019 for friendlies against the United States and Costa Rica. On October 16, he made his national team debut in an international contest against Peru. Núñez was named in the final 26-man Uruguay team for the Copa América in Brazil in June 2021, however, he was forced to withdraw from the competition because of a knee injury.
Finally, he was given another opportunity to represent his nation on a global platform when Uruguay was named in the roster for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Regretfully, Uruguay’s performance in the tournament was lower than South Korea’s, and they were eliminated in the group stages.
Núñez received another call-up to play for Uruguay in the 2024 Copa América in the US in June of that year. Just before the tournament started, he earned his first international hat-trick in a 4-0 friendly victory over Mexico.
Personal Life
Darwin Núñez and his spouse Lorena Mañas happily welcomed their first child in January 2022. Núñez speaks Portuguese with ease in addition to his mother tongue of Spanish.
