A curious thing happened in the transfer rumor mill this week. Darwin Nunez, the Uruguayan striker who left Liverpool for Al Hilal two years ago, apparently wants to come back to Europe. Specifically, he wants to come back to Italy.
According to reports from Daniele Longo, Nunez is growing restless in Saudi Arabia. His camp has started making calls. And somehow, AC Milan ended up on the other end of the line.
Let’s back up a second. Nunez’s move to Al Hilal in 2024 was one of those deals that made financial sense but felt weird competitively. He was only 25. The guy had shown flashes at Liverpool — raw power, chaotic speed, the ability to miss a sitter and then score a worldie three minutes later. Going to the Saudi league at that age felt like a detour, not a destination. Two years later, that might be exactly what it was.
Here’s the complication: Nunez’s wages. Current deal reportedly pays him around €20 million net per year. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s more than almost everyone on Milan’s roster makes combined. The Rossoneri would basically have to sell the food trucks outside San Siro to afford that.
Milan’s interest is real though. Ruben Amorim, their manager, wants a proper number nine. A physical presence. Nunez fits the profile. But the only way this gets done is a loan. Maybe a loan with an option to buy, but even that requires Al Hilal to eat a chunk of salary. Saudi clubs don’t typically love being treated like rental lots.
The Italian Connection
Why does this keep circling back to Italy? Because Nunez’s primary agent is Tommaso Inzaghi — yes, that Inzaghi family — who works under Federico Pastorello. That’s a heavy Italian football connection. The guy has ties to Serie A that run deep. Nunez also uses his family’s agency for broader planning, and occasionally brings in Fali Ramadani for European negotiations. It’s a complicated web of representation, but the Italian thread is the strongest one right now.
Milan have been offered the chance to explore this. No formal talks yet. No numbers exchanged. But the club likes what they see on tape. Nunez at his best is a nightmare for defenses — strong, direct, unpredictable in a way that keeps center backs guessing. The question is whether he still has that edge after two seasons in a league where the intensity drops off sharply after the first 20 minutes of any given game.
The wage problem isn’t going away. At €20 million gross per season, Milan would be paying him more than they pay Rafael Leao. That creates a locker room dynamic nobody wants. A loan deal where Al Hilal covers half the salary? That’s the kind of structure that might actually work. But Saudi clubs aren’t in the business of subsidizing European teams. They paid big money to get these players. They want them playing, or they want a transfer fee that reflects the investment.
Right now this feels like a long shot. But it’s a long shot with an interesting path forward. If Nunez pushes hard enough, if the middle of the Saudi season feels empty enough, something could shift. Milan might end up with a striker they couldn’t afford, and Nunez might get another crack at a top European league. Both sides would be taking a gamble. Sometimes those are the only ones worth watching.
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