Darwin Nunez moved to Anfield last summer for a fee of £64m and could rise to £85m, making the Uruguayan striker the most expensive signing in the club’s history.
However, so far, he has not proven himself worthy of the aforementioned huge amount of money . To be fair, Nunez’s numbers in his first season in England weren’t too bad: 19 shots in 42 appearances in all competitions, only 26 of which were starts.
Nunez has left a real mark, some “supernatural moments” as Jurgen Klopp put it, such as a heeled finish against Real Madrid in the Champions League, or a sprint in the League Cup that made Aymeric Laporte was overwhelmed before launching a pass to clear the ground for Mohamed Salah to score.
The fact of the matter, however, is that Nunez has started this season in the same position he took at the end of last season – that is a fifth choice forward.
Coach Klopp is proud of the attacking quartet he owns.
Diaz is showing impressive form.
Salah defaults to the right winger position and Luis Diaz has started the season as if intending to make the left wing his own. Nunez has a wide range of capabilities thanks to his speed, but when put on the scale with Diaz, everything becomes limp.
The 24-year-old is basically vying with Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo for the number 9 spot – and getting ahead of either of them in the ranking order won’t be easy.
Nunez hasn’t shown himself yet.
Jota – who led the attack in the first games of the season, is fit and continues to shoot, while January signing – Gakpo is even expected to improve and take the starting place of the team. Portuguese player and became the next level 9 after Roberto Firmino.
It can be seen that Nunez has played impressively in the pre-season. But when the Premier League kicked off, he no longer showed the usual performances.
The former Benfica player often misses opportunities – this can be seen as his biggest weakness since arriving at Liverpool.
It’s hard to compare Nunez and Haaland.
Nunez’s big chance to goal conversion rate is around 30%.
Meanwhile Erling Haaland – who also made Man City fans hold his head many times in regret – missed at least 10 bigger opportunities than any other player in Europe’s top 5 leagues last season – a total of 42. – but the scoring rate of The Citizens star is up to 51.72%.
So it’s not surprising that coach Jurgen Klopp put the blockbuster contract on the bench.