It hasn’t been easy for Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez since arriving to Liverpool. It would seem from the start the former Benfica striker was the blunt of baseless and poor journalism writing him off as a flop after only two or three games.
While not perfect, Darwin Nunez has put up healthy numbers for Liverpool, 5 goals in 11 matches in the Premier League and 9 goals in 20 matches across all competitions. Despite showing a lot of explosive traits, like his running abilities, Nunez seems to suffer from trying to do too much rather than a lack of confidence.
The £64 million striker may frustrate pundits and some Liverpool fans, but he has hooked the only “fan” that matters, his manager Jurgen Klopp. The German coach has been full of praise for the Uruguayan striker and told the media that Nunez reminds him a lot of Robert Lewandowski when he first arrived at Borussia Dortmund.
Jurgen Klopp defends Darwin Nunez
“There are a lot of similarities (with Nunez), to be honest,” Klopp said. “Yes, I think Lewi would tell the same story. We had shooting sessions where he didn’t finish off one. We had bets all the time for €10 where I said, ‘If you score more than 10 times I will pay you €10 and if you don’t you have to pay me’. My pocket was full of money. Going back to that time, when I started playing Lewandowski the journalists asked me why (Lucas) Barrios was not playing.
Juergen Klopp, Manager of Liverpool (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Lucas Barrios had scored 16 goals that season and was the No.9 in our team. So, Lewi started playing in different positions to adapt to different things. The Polish journalists were not too friendly with me because he didn’t play No.9. He played in a 4-2-3-1 at 10. I thought at that time it made absolute sense to develop his game.”
Klopp backed his star signing by telling the media and fans to stay calm during this transition for Nunez, “It’s all about staying calm. When you see the potential, stay calm.
“It is so difficult in the world we are living in. I don’t mean this personally but because of you (the media) asking and making a big fuss of everything, then the supporters, social media and all these kinds of things. The more you can shut off that, the better it is.
“I think we all agree that the potential is so obvious. Is everything right? No. I think it’s clear when you see the second chance, the big chance in the second half (against Aston Villa) he can run a little bit on an angle and then he has a free choice.
“But it is all coming. You do it like this, the next time you do it like that. I had this situation with Lewi, but it is not only Lewi. He is the obvious comparison. The team is completely convinced and that’s really cool.”
