Darwin Nunez arrived on Merseyside from Portuguese outfit SL Benfica earlier in the transfer window and despite failing to score in his first two outings, he netted four of Liverpool’s five goals in the thrashing of RB Leipzig last week and now has fans full of excitement ahead of the new campaign.
The Uruguay international was one of Europe’s hottest forwards last term, netting 34 goals and registering four assists in 41 appearances for the Lisbon based side.
His arrival at Anfield will now mean that Jurgen Klopp’s side can operate with an ‘archetypal type of number nine’ for the first time in a number of seasons, something that ex-Red Robbie Fowler is excited about, despite the ‘disappointment’ felt by the departure of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich.
“Disappointed in the Mane one in all fairness,” Fowler told BBC Sport Merseyside (via the Liverpool Echo) when reviewing Liverpool’s summer transfer business.
“I don’t think they could have kept Mane and Salah in terms of the demands for the wages, but I’ve said plenty of times how good I think Mane is, I love watching him.
“But I’m obviously very buoyed by the fact they’ve got Darwin Nunez. I think he’s a good player and he will score goals – there’s the fact that he’s been in Champions League games and scored against some top teams. I think he’ll understand what the demands of the Premier League are all about.
“We’ve been missing this type of player for a good few years now and as much as Firmino’s played that role – and Mane towards the end of last season – I don’t think we’ve had the archetypal type of number nine that I want to see. Someone who wants to play on the defender’s shoulders, someone who wants to get over the back line and I think we’ve got that with him.
“It’s a gamble, we all know it’s a gamble but I think it’s a gamble that Jurgen and his staff are prepared to take because of his exploits in the Champions League and what he was like in Portugal.”
It was of course sad to see Mane leave the club, but most supporters are now over his departure – it’s time to look to the future and a fresh chapter for the club without the famous trio of Mane, Bobby Firmino and Mo Salah.
With the arrival of our new No. 27, you’d expect him to operate centrally with the Egyptian King one side and Luis Diaz on the other in what has the potential to produce yet another frightening attacking trio.
The latter hit the ground running when he arrived from Portugal in January and Liverpool supporters are hoping for the same from Nunez.
The former Almeria man is just 23 years of age and is arriving in a new country and needing to learn a new language. Time must therefore be afforded to him before we can expect to see him performing at his very best.
Our next clash will see us face Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday – it remains to be seen what type of side our German tactician will opt to start the match at Leicester’s King Power Stadium, but Nunez will certainly be eager to earn more minutes ahead of our opening Premier League fixture on August 6.