Darwin Nunez almost joined another Premier League club before Liverpool transfer

Liverpool have won the race to sign highly-rated Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez this summer.

The striker, who scored 34 times in 41 appearances across all competitions for Benfica last season, is set to cost Jurgen Klopp's side £64million. That fee could eventually rise to £85m with add-ons.

But it could have been completely different outcome for the 22-year-old had another English club stepped up their interest in him two years ago. Back in the summer of 2020, Sheffield United were strongly linked with a move for the South American. The Blades had just enjoyed a superb return to the top flight after a 12-year absence, posting a ninth-placed finish in the Premier League.

16 goals in 30 league appearances for Spanish second division side Almeria had alerted several clubs to Nunez's ability and United were among those who were said to be interested. At the time, Spanish newspaper La Voz de Almeria reported that the Yorkshire side and other Premier League teams were keen on luring him to England.

The world's media then began linking him with a move to Bramall Lane. United were ultimately not in for the striker then but the transfer links could have been as a result of their interest in him 12 months prior.

The club had taken a look at him while with Penarol in his native Uruguay. He was attracting plenty of scouts at the time but ultimately United did not follow up their interest and he would move to Spain, where his form in just one season then suddenly alerted him to the bigger sides in Europe.

Portuguese giants Benfica liked what they saw and forked out a reported €24m (£21m) for him. Now, they are set to potentially quadruple their money, provided the add-ons are activated when he moves to Merseyside. As for United, they would instead bring in Rhian Brewster from Liverpool for a club record fee - only for him to fail to score a single goal as the Bramall Lane side finished bottom of the league.

For the Blades, it is a familiar story of missing out on a South American star. Back in 1978, the club came mightily close to agreeing a deal for a certain Diego Maradona.

Aged just 17, he was pulling up plenty of trees with Argentinos Juniors. United, then a second division side, were under the stewardship of Harry Haslam, who had arranged a scouting trip to Argentina.

After passing up on a deal to sign Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa - who would both move to Tottenham - United were suddenly attracted to the appeal of bringing Maradona to the club. A fee of £150,000 was agreed - but that's where negotiations started to turn murky.

Detailing the exact circumstances as to why a deal never materialised, the Blades' club historian John Garrett said: "At the time, Argentina was run by the military junta, a right-wing coup that overthrew the then president. That night, Haslam's in his room relaxing thinking he's got this wonderkid and then gets a knock at the door from a member of the military police who has turned up at the hotel.

"He's saying that he has heard we're (United) paying £150,000 for this player and if they want the military to let Diego out of the country, they would like a payment of £150,000 too. So not only have you got a figure of £300,000, which I would imagine is getting towards a fair amount of cash for an untried 17-year-old, but the main problem was that it was starting to get a bit political."

Garrett claims that United then "ran a mile" once the deal became embroiled in politics - and that was the end of that.