The Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool was obviously a successful one. Under the charismatic German, the Merseysiders won everything they really wanted to win and then some.
Most of their transfer dealings in that time were also successful. The impact of players like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Alisson Becker, Fabinho, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joel Matip, and more recently Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, cannot be questioned.
However, there were also signings which didn’t quite come off for different reasons, such as Marko Grujic, Loris Karius, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita, Thiago Alcantara, and the one that has been attracting plenty of attention over the last three years – Darwin Nunez.
Everything about the Uruguay international sparked debate, starting with the transfer fee Liverpool paid Benfica for his services in the summer of 2022, with certain media outlets unsurprisingly playing a big part in that. Nunez cost Liverpool an initial fee of €85million (just over £72million), with certain add-ons potentially raising the amount to €100million (£85million). But as soon as things started going downhill, he was labeled in the British press as a “£100million flop”.
Being a Uruguay international, a striker, and having a bit of a temperament, Nunez was quickly compared with Luis Suarez, the man whose football brilliance the Anfield faithful enjoyed greatly between 2011 and 2014. But that only increased the expectations, already overblown by the transfer fee mess served by the press.
Nunez’s debut for Liverpool came against Manchester City in the Community Shield, and playing just over 30 minutes of the match he found himself on the scoresheet against the Premier League champions. He followed that up with a goal and an assist on his league debut against Fulham, and the early signs suggested he was worth the money spent on his signature.
But a heavy setback followed, as Nunez allowed Joachim Andersen (a Crystal Palace player at the time) to manipulate referee Paul Tierney as well as Nunez’s own temperament into getting the new Liverpool striker sent off after less than an hour. A three-game ban followed, along with another round of bashing by the media, and it has transpired since that Nunez didn’t really have what it took to recover from such a pressure.
In terms of footballing ability, there’s nothing Nunez cannot do, and he’s proven that on several occasions. He is strong, fast, good in the air, a hard worker and a good presser of the ball, he can dribble, he can shoot, he has good vision and can be very creative as well. And he does have a bit of Suarez in him, as he sometimes produces fantastically cheeky goals which require a tremendous level of skill – the backheel flick against Real Madrid and the lob against Brentford stand out in that aspect. He has also been known to – twice, actually – come off the bench, score a brace and bring his team victory. That’s another thing Brentford can attest to, as can Newacastle.
However, it seems Nunez has never managed to get his confidence back properly, not for long anyway, and for a striker, confidence is obviously a vital thing. A lack of it invariably generates wastefulness in front of goal, and there can be no denying the fact that Nunez has wasted an alarmingly large number of clear-cut chances.
And every time he produces a good performance and swings a game Liverpool’s way, hope appears that he might’ve gotten over his insecurities and finally taken the path to becoming a great No. 9 for the club. And every time, disappointment inevitably follows. Klopp couldn’t get him to perform with any consistency, and it seems Arne Slot, who took over only last summer and is already on his way to a Premier League title, cannot either.
Liverpool obviously need a proper centre-forward, one that can be relied on to score 20+ goals each season and to put chances away on a regular basis. They need the presence like the one, for example, Newcastle have in Alexander Isak. It’s been three years, and Nunez hasn’t become such a player. If he hasn’t by now, he probably won’t. They’ve waited for him long enough.
It’s time to move on, for both the player and the club, and a parting of their ways is reportedly expected this summer.
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