Fabinho has warned that patience will be required to allow Darwin Nunez to fully adapt to his new surroundings with Jurgen Klopp’s men ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
The Uruguayan was subjected to ridicule online for his performances in training and during the 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in Bangkok.
“Darwin may need a bit of time to adapt, let’s see, but a player like him can really change a team,” the No.3 told James Pearce at The Athletic.
“He’s a proper number nine. He’s a goalscorer.
“He scored in both games against us in the Champions League. We know how good he is.
“Even though we lost Sadio, I still believe that we can fight for everything. The team is still really strong.”
With the player still not quite at full fitness, as is to be expected at this stage in pre-season, it makes little sense as to why some supporters feel that this is already the best the 23-year-old has to offer in the famous red shirt.
Certainly, if prior pre-season results are anything to go by, building up fitness is far more indicative of the potential success a campaign could offer.
Whilst we’d hope to see a similarly speedy level of acclimatisation as that of winter signing Luis Diaz, history suggests a lengthy adjustment period isn’t anything to worry about necessarily given how long the likes of both Fabinho and Andy Robertson took to break into the first-XI on a consistent basis.
Liverpool simply aren’t in the habit of taking £64m risks – there’s every reason to be confident in our latest Uruguayan addition hitting the right notes at Anfield.