Five best Uruguay players to play in the Premier League amid Darwin Nunez interest

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Darwin Nunez is going to be one of big stories of this summer’s transfer window and the Benfica superstar could be heading to the Premier League.

The 22-year-old was Primera Liga’s top scorer with 26 goals this campaign and the talented Uruguayan scored 34 goals across all competitions.

Six of those goals came in the Champions League with strikes against Barcelona (twice), Bayern Munich, Ajax and Liverpool (twice).

The former Almeria man has emerged as one of Europe’s most coveted players and Manchester United are one of the big clubs chasing his signature.

The Athletic report that Benfica are already chasing the South American’s replacement and that Nunez could be signed for £51million in the coming months.

As well as the Red Devils, Nunez has been linked with the likes of Newcastle, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, and West Ham tried signing him in January.

With the possibility of Nunez heading to England growing, TBR takes a look at the five best Uruguay players to play in the Premier League.

Best Uruguay players to play in the Premier League

Gustavo Poyet

The attacking midfielder joined Chelsea in the summer of 1997 after scoring 14 La Liga goals in his last season with Real Zaragoza.

In 143 games for the Blues, Poyet who was more than capable of the sublime and spectacular scored 45 goals.

Poyet spent four seasons at Stamford Bridge before moving to rivals Tottenham Hotspur for three years where he finished his playing career in 2004.

Poyet scored ten or more Premier League goals in four consecutive campaigns during his time in England and he won four trophies with Chelsea, including the 2000 FA Cup.

The former Brighton and Sunderland manager is currently the manager of Greece after being appointed in February.

Diego Forlan

Manchester United paid £6.9m to sign the striker from Independiente in January 2002 and while he struggled to flourish in England, the Uruguayan proved the doubters wrong following his move to Spain.

After two-and-a-half years in Manchester, which brought 17 goals from 97 games, Forlan headed to La Liga with Villarreal where he scored 58 goals from 125 matches. At one stage with the Red Devils, Forlan went 27 games without scoring.

His form for the Yellow Submarine, which included winning the prestigious Golden Boot, awarded to Europe’s leading goalscorer, in his first season with 25 goals, resulted in Atletico Madrid signing him for £14m in 2007.

From 198 matches for the side based in the Spanish capital, Forlan scored 96 goals. In the 2008/09 La Liga campaign, Forlan scored 32 goals, and he scored both the goals which saw Atletico beat Roy Hodgson’s Fulham 2-1, in the 2010 Europa League final.

Rodrigo Bentancur

The Uruguayan midfielder only arrived in the Premier League from Juventus on the last day of the January transfer window as Tottenham splashed out £15.9m to bring him to north London.

But the 24-year-old has only missed one Premier League game since arriving to England and his presence in the heart of Antonio Conte’s midfield has helped Spurs become a more robust outfit.

A three-time Serie A champion during his four-and-a-half years in Turin, Bentancur will be targeting trophies with Conte’s Tottenham side and he’ll likely only get better with a full pre-season at Tottenham under his belt.

Bentancur has all the makings to become one of the best Uruguay players to play in the Premier League.

Edinson Cavani

Oh how Manchester United fans would have loved to have seen El Matador play at Old Trafford in his prime.

The former Paris Saint Germain man scored 17 goals in his first season in England and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had convinced United’s number seven at the time to extend his stay by a further year.

But following the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, Cavani not only lost his tag as the club’s main man, but he also handed over his number seven shirt to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

However, injuries have hampered the 35-year-old and he has only scored two goals all season. He’ll leave the Theatre of Dreams as a free agent at the end of next month.

Luis Suarez

Undeniably the best Uruguay player to have played in the Premier League, Suarez took England during his three-and-a-half years at Anfield.

Uruguay’s all-time top scorer scored 82 goals and laid on 46 assists from 133 matches for Liverpool.

He may have only won the League Cup during his time on Merseyside having agonisingly missed out on the Premier League title, but his last season in England was simply out of this world.

Despite been suspended for the first five games of the season, Suarez finished the 2013/14 campaign with 31 goals and 17 assists from 33 league matches.

Following his £75m move to Barcelona, Suarez would become part of formidable trio alongside Neymar and Lionel Messi and went on to score 194 goals from 282 matches, as well as providing 113 assists.

He won 13 trophies with the Catalans, including four La Liga’s and the 2015 Champions League before moving to rivals Atletico Madrid in 2020.

After two seasons with Diego Simeone’s side, Suarez will leave Atletico as a free agent this summer.