Darwin Nunez's Al Hilal Departure: A Free Transfer Story

Darwin Nunez arrived in Saudi Arabia as a statement signing. A €53 million forward, fresh from Liverpool, carrying the weight of a deal that had once been worth up to £85m when he left Benfica. Twelve months on, he is walking away from Al Hilal for nothing.

A marquee import turned free transfer. That is how quickly the project has been torn up.

The numbers alone tell part of the story. Nunez produced nine goals and five assists in 22 appearances. Decent on paper, but nowhere near the return expected from a headline foreign attacker in a league reshaped by big money and even bigger egos. Then Karim Benzema walked through the door in early February, and the comparison became brutal.

Benzema has already matched Nunez’s nine goals and five assists, but in 10 fewer games. The Frenchman didn’t just take a place in the team. He took the role, the responsibility, and ultimately the roster spot.

The key detail sits in the regulations. The Saudi Pro League limits each club to 10 foreign players: eight over the age of 20 and two under-20s. Once Benzema arrived, Al Hilal had a choice to make. Someone had to go. Nunez, 26 and still theoretically in his prime, became the sacrifice.

His playing registration was withdrawn in the winter window. One administrative line, and his season effectively ended.

For a forward trying to build rhythm, the timing could hardly be worse. For a Uruguayan international with a World Cup on the horizon this summer, it is close to disastrous. Nunez has not played a competitive club match since February 16.

The irony is that his last meaningful contribution for Al Hilal came on the continental stage. In the final group game of the AFC Champions League, still eligible, he scored twice. It looked like a platform. Instead, it proved to be a full stop. He was left out of the squad entirely for the round-of-16 tie in April, when Al Hilal went out.

That omission reverberated all the way back to Montevideo.

Match sharpness is currency at international level, and Nunez is spending his reserves fast. His recent involvement for Uruguay has been reduced to cameo work: late substitute appearances in friendlies against England and Algeria at the end of March. Those minutes may be just enough to keep him inside the national-team picture, but not enough to guarantee anything more than a seat on the plane.

While his club situation unravels, the market is already circling. A free transfer for a 26-year-old forward with Premier League experience is rare value, and both Newcastle United and Chelsea are reportedly watching closely. For clubs searching for goals without paying a transfer premium, the opportunity is obvious.

For Al Hilal, the decision is cold but clear. In a league where each foreign slot is gold dust, Benzema has delivered faster, cleaner, and with the pedigree of a Ballon d’Or winner. Nunez became expendable not because he is a bad striker, but because in this particular arms race, “good” is no longer good enough.

So he leaves Saudi Arabia as quickly as he arrived, his reputation somewhere between unfinished business and misfire. The next move will decide which label sticks.

If that next chapter comes back in the Premier League, under the harsher lights and higher tempo he once knew, we will find out soon enough whether this Saudi detour was a blip—or the beginning of a slide he cannot afford in a World Cup year.