Liverpool turned down a bid from Chelsea for 24-year-old Uruguay attacker Darwin Nunez last summer, according to The Times.
Paul Joyce stated: “There was speculation within the football industry that Liverpool were considering offloading Darwin Núñez after only one entertaining, if inefficient, season.
“The noise made it to Paul Winstanley, Chelsea’s co-sporting director. Winstanley was a long-term admirer of Nunez, having first run checks on the striker during his time at Brighton & Hove Albion, when he featured at the top of their data charts.
“The sporting director would not have been doing his job, therefore, had he not checked out the validity of the suggestion that the Uruguay striker was being made available.
“As it turned out, the rumour was wrong: Liverpool did not entertain the inquiry and the rest, as they say, is history.”
