Liverpool Supporters Must Show Patience To New Signing Darwin Nunez

Luis Diaz set an unrealistic precedent for Liverpool signings. The Colombian hit the ground running after joining the Reds from Porto in the January transfer window, scoring six goals in 26 appearances for his new team as Liverpool challenged for major honours on all four fronts. Fans shouldn’t expect Darwin Nunez to make the same immediate impact.

Liverpool broke their transfer record to land Nunez this summer, beating Manchester United to the signing of the Uruguayan centre forward. The 23-year-old scored a sensational 34 goals in 41 games for Benfica last season and will add another dimension to Jurgen Klopp’s frontline. He is a more orthodox number nine than Liverpool are used to.

It will take some time for Nunez to acclimatise to his new surroundings. Not only has the Uruguayan joined a new team, he is in a new league in a new country. Liverpool supporters must be patient with their club’s latest big money signing. Not every new addition can be an instant hit like Diaz was earlier this year. This doesn’t mean Nunez won’t be a success in time, though.

Nunez’s pre-season performances have been mixed. The 23-year-old struggled in matches against Manchester United and Crystal Palace, but followed this up by scoring four goals in a 5-0 demolition of RB Leipzig. Nunez clearly has an eye for goal, yet there is much discussion over how he will fit into Klopp’s team.

“He has fitted very well in. It’s a new club, everything is new for him. Liverpool is a big club, everything went pretty quick for Darwin in the last few years – his journey is an exciting one and he will make big steps with us, definitely,” Klopp explained in an interview after the pre-season victory over RB Leipzig this week. “But it’s a hard pre-season.

“In the pre-season players should not play like they usually play because we train really hard, it would be kind of a bad sign that we are not working hard enough if players have the freshest legs ever in the training games. But in the same moment when you are a new player you get judged every day, everybody speaks about you.”

Of course, Liverpool are in the fortunate position that they are well-stocked in the attacking ranks. They won’t be reliant on Nunez when the 2022/23 season starts because they already have the likes of Diaz, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah to provide goals and general attacking threat. Even without Nunez, Liverpool boast one of the most potent attacking units around.

The summer addition of Nunez has given Klopp a number of different tactical options. Liverpool can now play more effectively in a 4-2-3-1 with Nunez as the centre forward although this might require Thiago Alcantara to play higher up the pitch. Thiago himself needed a period of acclimatisation as a Liverpool player before coming good last season. Nunez could follow a similar trajectory in red.