There has been plenty said about Darwin Nunez’s first two appearances for Liverpool in this pre-season and Virgil van Dijk has now had his say, on his new teammate.
Speaking with The Athletic, the captain of Holland said: “We saw how good Darwin is when we played against Benfica last season (in the Champions League quarter-finals).
“He’s a very talented striker — one for now and also one for the future. I just remember in the away leg, he tried to target Ibou (central defensive partner Ibrahima Konate) a bit more than me!
“He did well. He caused a lot of problems for us as a team. Very direct, quick and strong. I was sad that Sadio left us (for Bayern Munich), but we knew it was coming. He felt that it was time to move on and get a new challenge. We all respected that.
“The club reacted by getting Darwin in. Hopefully, he’s going to have a fantastic career for Liverpool.”
Our No.4 will have more first-hand experience of dealing with the Uruguayan than most of the Premier League and certainly more than those who have criticised the forward on social media.
The 23-year-old has played just over an hour of football, all during the first week of his time with a new club, new teammates and a new language – yet some have already damned his Anfield career.
It’s a lot more reasonable to listen to those who have spent more time with our new No.27 and now having done so as an opponent and as a colleague, the Dutchman’s verdict should be listened to.
All the noise from inside the club is all very much positive about the former Benfica man and let’s hope that he can score his first goal during our next game against RB Leipzig.