Liverpool’s imminent new signing Darwin Nunez is dating Spaniard Lorena Manas, who is thought to be older than him and who had previously dated a former Barcelona star

This is the stunning WAG of the man Liverpool fans are hoping will set the Premier League alight.

Spaniard Lorena Manas gave birth to her first child with the star striker, called Darwin like his dad, in January. The pretty blonde has a seven-year daughter called Chloe with ex-Barcelona defender Aleix Vidal. Lorena met her current partner when he played for Almeria before signing for Benfica in September 2020 and cemented his reputation as a prolific goalscorer.

She posted an emotional message to her children earlier this year alongside a photo showing her in hospital alongside the Uruguayan international after giving birth to their first son and wrote: “I would like you to fall down many times and always get up because that would mean you live intensely and without fear.

“I would like you to be nice to those who are in an underprivileged situation and unforgiving with those who abuse others, that you have the courage to take your own decisions and that nobody marks out your path.”

Darwin, who at just 22 is believed to be several years younger than Lorena, confessed after signing for Benfica that he dedicates all his goals to his family including his girlfriend. The frontman, expected to fly to the UK and seal his £85 million move today, calls them his “shelter.”

Some online reports have incorrectly claimed Lorena, who hails from Almeria in south-east Spain where she gave birth at the start of the year, is from Uruguay. She got to know her partner’s homeland in March during a visit that coincided with an International game. Darwin wrote alongside a series of photos showing them together: “First time in Uruguay my love and I hope there will be many more. Thank you for so much. I love you.”

She is thought to be older than the Liverpool attacker (Image: lorenaamanas / Instagram)

Lorena, said to have stayed on friendly terms with Lionel Messi’s wife Antonela Roccuzzo from their time in Barcelona together when she was dating Vidal, is not shy about showing off her shapely body on Instagram and used to love posting bikini selfies before falling pregnant.

She described herself as the “luckiest mum” in the world after she found out she was going to have her second child. Lorena is believed to have split from Aleix Vidal, now with La Liga side Espanyol, in the spring of 2018.

Darwin, who scored 34 goals in 41 games in the 2021-22 season, is expected to earn around £120,000-a-week at Liverpool. His current lifestyle is a world away from his tough upbringing in a dirt-poor neighbourhood called El Pirata – Pirate in English – in the city of Artigas on Uruguay’s borders with Argentina and Brazil. The footballer has admitted in interviews to going to bed hungry.

A new dawn beckons for Nunez at Benifca (Image: Getty Images)

He said in one: “Yes, in solidarity I went to bed with my stomach empty but the person who went to bed with her belly empty most was my mum. “She made sure my brother and I ate first. My mum used to go to bed without sitting with us at dinner time. I will never forget where I come from.”

Mum-of-two Silvia Ribeiro used to collect bottles she then sold for cash so her children could eat. Darwin’s dad Bibiano Nunez worked in construction but earned very little. Darwin’s brother Junior, himself a promising footballer when he was younger, is believed to have given up his dreams of becoming a professional because of the family’s dire financial situation when they were growing up.

Uruguayan newspapers have called Darwin’s rise to the top of football as an “extraordinary story of overcoming adversity.”

Darwin has said of his sibling’s decision to abandon his dreams of playing professional football, when both were with Uruguayan club Penarol “My brother was training with Penarol’s first team but he had to quit because of life things, family problems.

Aleix Vidal is a former boyfriend (Image: GETTY)

“I was going to return to Artigas as well but he said to me: ‘Stay, you have a future here, but I’m leaving. “He gave me my opportunity.” He added in another interview in his homeland when he was just about to sign for then-second division Spanish side Almeria: “I come from a working-class family.

“My dad worked in construction and when I didn’t have boots he tried to look for some and buy some so I could play football. He had to work eight or nine hours to buy me things and put food on the table. My mother was a housewife but always went out on the streets looking for bottles to sell.”