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Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez was absent from the Reds' friendly defeat to AC Milan on Saturday, with head coach Arne Slot explaining post-match that the South American was injured.
Fellow forward Luis Diaz was missing because he is on the verge of signing for Bayern Munich for a fee of around $88 million (£66 million). Federico Chiesa might also move on amid interest from various clubs in Italy and beyond, but isn't on the Asia tour because of a minor knock.
"In Lucho’s situation, it was [transfer-related], yeah," Slot said in his post-match press conference. "There’s a lot of rumors around him lately, and I cannot go into that.
"He’s training really well with us, but we have decided for now not to play him yet. In Darwin’s situation, he has trained also really well and played a few good games for us already this season. But he was injured, so we didn’t take the risk."
According to The Times, while Al Hilal has long been linked with a move for Nunez, Al Ahli could be another potential landing spot for the Uruguayan. Both Saudi clubs are said to be keen after there was interest from the same league in January.
Al Ahli was the team where Liverpool hero Roberto Firmino has played for the last two years. Last week, however, it was confirmed that he had moved to Qatar to represent Al Sadd.
Last week, Hugo Ekitike was confirmed as a $106 million (£79 million) arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt. But Slot's side also holds an interest in Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, who would cost a British record fee.
As a result, it is possible that Nunez moves on. If he, Diaz and Chiesa were all to depart, however, that would leave only Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah from Liverpool's group of senior forwards from the 2024/25 season.
"I think what I’ve also said is I’m really happy with the squad we had," Slot said on transfers in general. "That’s what we also showed by not bringing in new players last season.
"Now we won the league, but you can see everywhere around us — in the Premier League but also we play in Europe so we want to achieve things there as well — that all of these teams try to strengthen their squads.
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"So, if you do the same as we did last year we will probably not be able to win it again.
"So, we have to improve – the players that are still here and we’ve tried to bring new energy in but also ‘weapons’, as you called it, and I think the players we’ve brought in have shown already in the few times we have trained together and the games we’ve played.
"Now let’s wait how Hugo [Ekitike] is going to do that. Really pleased what we did until now, but already really pleased we kept the players that had an extended contract last season."
Liverpool.com says: Moving on from Nunez feels like the right time, but only if a replacement comes in. Isak seems like a possibility but another player (a Diaz replacement) might also be required to ensure Slot has enough quality options to call upon.
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