Manchester City and Liverpool have splashed out record sums to snap up two of the most exciting strikers in the game.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has a spectacularly ripped physique Credit: INSTAGRAM/ERLING HAALAND
But it’s not just the fees for 21-year-old Norwegian hotshot Erling Haaland and Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez, 22, that are turning heads.
Female fans have been paying special attention to the stars’ ripped torsos – which neither are shy of showing off.
Grant Rollings takes a look at the men whose goals could bring the big trophies.
Erling Haaland: Manchester City
AGE: 21FEE: £51millionPAY: £375,000 a weekDAD: Ex-pro footballerMUM: Heptathlon champLIKES: Giving £12,000 watches to 33 team-mates
Erling Haaland plans to shake up the Premier League Credit: INSTAGRAM/ERLING HAALAND
Haaland is hoping to fire Manchester City to another Premier League title Credit: Getty
EVEN before Erling arrived at mega-rich Man City, he was a young man accustomed to the finest things in life.
The 6ft 5in, blond-haired colossus, nicknamed The Terminator, flies on private jets, has a personal fitness guru and chef, and reportedly gave a £25,000 tip after splashing out £400,000 at a restaurant during a holiday in Greece.
On leaving German side Borussia Dortmund to head to the Premier League this week, the generous star gave each of his 33 team-mates Rolex watches worth £12,000 each.
But as City’s now highest-paid player — on a reported £375,000 a week — he can afford it.
Haaland has been a Manchester City supporter since he was a boy
Erling is single at the moment and is said to prefer to focus on football.
In fact, so obsessed is the Norwegian that he wakes up every morning to the sound of the Champions League anthem.
Darwin Nunez: Liverpool
AGE: 22FEE: £85millionPAY: £140,000 a weekDAD: BricklayerMUM: Former bottle sellerLOVES: Girlfriend Lorena and son Darwin
Liverpool’s new hotshot striker Darwin Nunez hails from Uruguay Credit: INSTAGRAM/DARWIN NUNEZ
When it burst its banks, the waters overwhelmed their house.
Family friend Monty Suarez, whose son played with Nunez in primary school, told The Sun: “They had financial shortcomings.
“They lived in a place where people have to leave their houses to escape from the water.”
Rural Artigas is the furthest city from capital Montevideo, so when, aged 14, Nunez’s talents were spotted by scouts from top league side Penarol, he had to move 370 miles from home.
His older brother Junior was already at Penarol and their mother did not want her youngest son to also live so far away.
“Every time the river Cuareim rises, he sends money to help with food and clothes for residents of his old district.”
In 2020 Nunez joined Portuguese side Benfica and began dating Lorena Manas. They had their first 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, a son also called Darwin, in January.
Now he has made his biggest footballing move — but it won’t go to his head.
As he once said: “I don’t forget where I come from — a humble, hard-working family.
Darwin Nunez’s partner is Lorena Manas Credit: Instagram / @lorenaamanas
Darwin Nune grew up in Uruguayan town Artigas
