Darwin Nunez has been told he needs to work on his composure by former Premier League player turned pundit Jay Bothroyd.
The Uruguayan was signed from Benfica last summer and despite netting 15 goals and registering four assists (across all competitions) he was criticised for his erratic finishing and numerous missed chances.
This term the 24-year-old has scored two goals and assisted another in our opening four Premier League games but our No. 9 still needs to improve according to Bothroyd.
“For me, he’s between a C and a D,” he said (as quoted by HITC).
“When he has played he’s played the majority of games on the left, and when he has played as a striker I don’t think he’s played well.
“We spoke about missing chances, and he’s missed loads of chances.
“I know pricetags, at £80m, I’m expecting him to come in and score goals, but he hasn’t done it in the Premier League yet.
“He has to really work on his composure as a striker.”
Nunez, who has previously been labelled ‘unstoppable’ by Klopp (as quoted by Marca), was the hero when we faced Newcastle last month as he was introduced as a second-half substitute and earned us all three points with two emphatic strikes late on.
His match winning performance earned him a start last time out against Aston Villa at Anfield and Unai Emery’s defence simply couldn’t handle the movement and speed of our No. 9.
He created the opener which ended up going down as a Matty Cash own goal and when he was replaced just after the hour mark our attack lost a lot of its threat.
There’s no doubt that the former Almeria forward can improve but the signs so far this season are extremely promising.
Ep89 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️