Darwin Nunez slowly becoming a Liverpool fan favourite

National World - LocalTV

A big future ahead for Nunez at Anfield?

Transcript

00:00 Well, just looking at Darwin Nunes, obviously took the number 9 shirt in the summer.

00:05 There was some controversy around that, whether he'd hit that form straight away.

00:09 He's getting there, he's looking a handful every week.

00:12 The huge performance away at Newcastle is very memorable for Liverpool fans.

00:18 But you see a lot of him, what can Liverpool fans expect?

00:23 And the rest of the Premier League, is he becoming that force to be reckoned with now?

00:28 I think he is, yeah. I always was quietly confident that he could be.

00:33 Just because last season he had so many chances.

00:36 And eventually you will turn those chances into goals, unless you're a really, really poor finisher.

00:45 It will happen, but his record at Benfica was similar.

00:48 He had a tough first season, I think he scored six goals.

00:51 And then he licked the touch paper in his second campaign.

00:54 It's difficult for him. He had a lot that summer when he moved.

00:58 Haaland moved in the same summer, and then it was comparisons drawn.

01:02 He was always going to take a little bit longer to click.

01:06 Because he didn't have the same pathway as Haaland.

01:09 Haaland was obviously at Salzburg and at Dortmund.

01:12 Salzburg, the well-coached Dortmund are a real force.

01:16 And obviously he went to Manchester City.

01:18 The plan was, we've seen last season, to play around Haaland.

01:23 I don't think that was quite it with Liverpool last season.

01:26 Because obviously Mo Salah is the main man.

01:28 And it was a tough season for Liverpool.

01:31 Last campaign we've seen how many players dropped off in form.

01:34 We've seen how many players departed over the summer.

01:37 So he didn't arrive in easy circumstances.

01:40 Couldn't speak any English at all, which didn't help him.

01:43 Geoghegan Klopp maybe didn't quite know his best position either last season.

01:48 Tried him on the left, tried him in the middle.

01:51 He was the number nine for me, without a shadow of a doubt.

01:54 Towards the end of last season, Klopp was saying that the ticket into the team

02:00 was the way you press off the ball.

02:02 And obviously Darren Nunes over the summer has gone off and rarely thought about that.

02:06 And that's helped him.

02:08 He's looking at real force.

02:10 He's forged a partnership with Mo Salah and Donoxer-Bosley.

02:14 And he's got six goals in 13 games so far for Nunes.

02:18 So just less than one in two, which is an outstanding record.

02:23 I think he'll be hitting 20, 25 goals without a shadow of a doubt this season

02:27 if he carries on that way.

02:30 He's just looking more confident.

02:31 And even when he's missing chances, it's not letting him affect him as much as it was

02:36 last season maybe.

02:38 The goal he scores against West Ham on the volley, a superb finish.

02:43 But just before that, he missed a big chance.

02:46 Even to lose game, he's gone past the defender superbly, round the keeper,

02:52 and then he hits the post.

02:55 Even Jürgen Klopp wasn't angry with him by that.

02:58 Maybe if it was last minute against Man City and the game's 0-0 or you're on 0-0,

03:02 maybe his reaction might have been a little bit different.

03:05 But even still, he's just showing that he's getting the chances.

03:10 And I can't really see him letting up any time soon.

03:14 I think the ceiling's so high for Darwin Nunes.

03:18 There were plenty of detractors last season among Liverpool fans and the outside football.

03:24 People are looking at that price tag and thinking, "Will Liverpool overpay?"

03:28 Well, this season, Liverpool are showing that Darwin Nunes was brought in to be

03:33 a long-term answer rather than a short-term solution.

03:38 He's carrying on.

03:40 If he carries on and up the kerbs, without a shadow of a doubt,

03:43 he'll be up there in the scoring charts in the Premier League this season.

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