Darwin Nunez has broken his silence on the limited minutes he has played for Liverpool this season, appearing to aim a dig at the club in a now-deleted tweet.

The striker has made just eight starts in the Premier League in 2024-25 and has logged 1000 minutes across 25 league games - an average of 40 minutes per appearance. 

Worse still, Nunez has started only one league game in 2025 - a 3-1 win over Southampton back in March in which he scored.

It has recently been speculated that Nunez has made so few starts because of a clause in his contract that means Liverpool will owe his former club Benfica £5million when he starts another game.

Reports in Portugal this week claimed that the Lisbon club will get a windfall in add-ons when Nunez makes 60 starts in the Premier League and Champions League combined. The Uruguay striker is currently on 59.

And on Saturday, the Reds frontman appeared to address these claims in a deleted post on X. He wrote: 'No wonder I didn't play more, because the last game I started in the Premier League went well and suddenly...'

Nunez's future at Liverpool has been the subject of heavy speculation, with the club rejecting an approach from Al-Nassr to sign him in January.

Mail Sport understands that the Saudi outfit may circle back in the summer, when Liverpool are also expected to make a concrete decision on Nunez's future.

Hours after sending the Liverpool fan base into turmoil with his shock tweet, Nunez carried on as if all was normal with his follow-up post.

The 25-year-old posted a picture alongside his team-mate Alexis MacAllister, holding a cup of mate - a traditional South American drink - with the caption: 'Good morning!'

When asked about Nunez's reported clause on Friday, Liverpool manager Arne Slot explained he was unaware such a stipulation existed in the forward's contract.

The Dutchman also insisted he had not been told by Richard Hughes - Liverpool's sporting director - to not start Nunez.

Slot said: ‘Do you always believe what journalists say? Not always? Me neither. Sometimes you should, but sometimes it’s better not to believe everything that is written about players.

‘This is completely new to me and I’ve said many times that I’m working at a club here where it’s really nice to work.

‘So mainly sporting directors are judged by the players they bring in, for me it’s very important to have a great working environment and I have that with Richard [Hughes].

‘The last, last, last, last, last thing he would do, as I expect working with him for 10 months, is tell me: “If you play him it would cost us this much”.

‘That, he would never, never, never do. I don’t even know if it’s true, yes or no, because we never talk about that. He never interferes with a lineup.

‘It might be true, but if a journalist says it we have to [take it with a pinch of salt].’

Liverpool splashed out £85m on Nunez to snap him up from Benfica in 2022 but he has struggled since his arrival.

The frontman has scored 40 goals in 138 appearances since landing in England.

In his two full seasons at Liverpool, he has ranked in the top three for big chances missed in the Premier League, with 21 in 2022-23 and 27 the year after.

This season, he has netted just seven goals and registered four assists in his 40 appearances across all competitions.