Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand gave an honest assessment of Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez following the Reds’ Champions League victory over Ajax. Nunez was on target for his side, along with Mohamed Salah and Harvey Elliot, as a 3-0 win helped Liverpool qualify for the knockout rounds. The 23-year-old striker scored a brilliant header from an Andy Robertson corner to double Liverpool’s lead in the second-half, however after missing a golden opportunity in the first 45 minutes.
Darwin Nunez has been the talk of the town in Merseyside after his club record £85 million transfer to Liverpool from Benfica this summer. He scored a staggering 34 goals in 41 games in all competitions last season, which earned him a move to Anfield as the Reds brought him in to make up for the void left in their attack by the departure of Sadio Mane. However, after a rocky start in England, Nunez is slowly arriving at the center stage as Ferdinand analyzed the youngster’s exploits so far.
Ferdinand makes a prediction for Darwin Nunez after his Ajax display
Darwin Nunez has been handed with just 7 starts so far this season at Liverpool, of which only one has been a full 90 minute expedition. A minor injury and a three-game suspension as a result of a red card have already forced the striker to miss 4 games. While a prolific striker, it has been an uphill task for Klopp to amalgamate the Uruguayan in his system. Moreover, Liverpool’s struggling start to the season, where they have managed only 4 wins in 11 league games has only piled the pressure on Nunez to get firing.
However, he is slowly and finally shutting down his critics as after bagging just 1 goal in his first 7 appearances, Nunez now has 4 in his last 5 games. Klopp rang some tactical changes as well against Ajax to help his summer recruit and the trick worked. Nunez was on the score-sheet and a consistent threat throughout his 63 minutes on the pitch. But Ferdinand, a former center-back who has defended against some of the greatest forwards made a particular prediction for Nunez who hit the woodwork from a Roberto Firmino pass despite having an open net to score. The pro-turned-pundit told BT Sport:
“There were good and bad moments for him [Darwin Nunez]. He had a bit of an indifferent night. There’s moments with him where you’re just scratching your head but then he scored which is what you’ve bought him for.
“The thing with him is he always tries to get in the box and score goals, his head never drops, he’s tenacious, he wants to graft and fight. That’s definitely a plus, you want that in your side. He’s never going to be the cleanest of strikers but he will be an effective striker in the long run, an effective striker who scores goals at this football club. As a defender he would be hard to play against, he will give a lot of defenders a hard day’s work.”
Ferdinand gave much of a damning assessment of Darwin Nunez, as he claims the Reds man cannot become a ‘cleanest of strikers’. Though he scored right after the second-half kicked-off, the horrible miss still caught the headlines. However, Klopp insisted that even the striker was “surprised” to see Firmino square the ball to him rather than take a shot himself with only the ‘keeper to beat.
Nonetheless, the Liverpool boss happy to see his player among goals after a torrid start to his Anfield career. But he had to take-off Nunez just after the hour mark as there are doubts the youngster once again picked a minor knock. Nunez is yet to play a full 90 minutes apart from that Arsenal game due to these knocks, and Firmino hitting form at the right time could further delay him a starting spot. Meanwhile, Liverpool will now hope to return to winning ways in the league as they welcome Leeds this weekend.