Darwin Nunez set for Liverpool switch after Reds reach agreement with Benfica

Liverpool have reached agreement with Benfica to bring Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez to Anfield for an initial €75 million ($78.6m), the Portuguese club said on Monday.

The deal could eventually rise to €100 million if certain criteria is met, eclipsing Liverpool's club-record £75 million paid to Southampton for Dutch centre-back Virgil van Dijk in 2018.

Nunez, 22, was left out of Uruguay's squad for Saturday's 5-0 friendly victory over Panama and is expected to begin a medical on Monday before signing on with the Premier League side on a six-year contract.

Nunez scored 26 goals in 28 league appearances last season in Portugal and netted in both legs of Benfica's Champions League quarter-final defeat against Liverpool in April, earning praise from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.

Nunez is likely to arrive at Anfield as a direct replacement for Sadio Mane after Bayern Munich stepped up their pursuit of the Senegal forward.

Liverpool have rejected two offers from the Bundesliga champions and are holding out for a fee in excess of £40 million for Mane, who has one year left on his contract.

Liverpool won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last season - along with finishing as Premier League runners-up and losing in the Champions League final.

Assuming there are no complications, Nunez is set to become Liverpool's second signing of the summer after Fabio Carvalho.

Carvalho, 19, played a key role in Fulham's promotion to the Premier League, scoring 10 goals and providing eight assists in the Cottagers' Championship-winning campaign.

Carvalho has signed five-year deal for a fee of £5m, with a further £2.7m in add-ons. He will officially join the Reds on July 1.

The language of diplomacy in 1853

Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)

We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.

Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale