Jurgen Klopp has backed Darwin Nunez to build on a solid yet unspectacular first season at Liverpool (opens in new tab) and realise his full potential.
Nunez became the Reds’ record signing when he joined from Benfica (opens in new tab) last summer, arriving at Anfield in a deal worth £85m.
Ostensibly the replacement for Sadio Mane – who left for Bayern Munich (opens in new tab) shortly after Nunez completed his move to Merseyside – the Uruguayan striker has certainly taken time to settle, but he has shown signs of the quality that prompted Liverpool to cough up a club-record fee.
The 23-year-old’s manager certainly has full faith in his ability, and has acknowledged the challenge of trying to hit peak performance levels in a team functioning well below its best. Asked by the Reds’ official website whether there was more to come from Nunez, Klopp said (opens in new tab):
“A lot more, that’s clear. He needs time to settle. The most difficult thing for a striker is coming into a team that’s not clicking.
“That’s the most difficult thing, but then scoring 15 goals – imagine we would have had a normal season for us by our standards. A good season, a 70, 80 or more points season, he would have scored 20-odd goals, definitely. It’s like each situation we created, if you miss it it’s much more a highlight.
“Mo Salah in his best season with 40-odd goals missed chances. That’s normal. Erling Haaland missed chances, that’s how it is, but they had much more than we created in this period.”
Since a brace in Liverpool’s 7-0 demolition of Manchester United (opens in new tab) in March, Nunez has only scored once in 11 appearances – although five of his last seven involvements have been from the bench.