Jurgen Klopp has spoken openly about how he believes there is more to come from Darwin Nunez, though last summer’s signing may need the Liverpool boss to alter his plans in order to reap the benefits. The forward was a lethal finisher whilst at Benfica, though that joy came whilst deployed as a No 9.
Nunez has spent extended periods of this season playing out on the left wing, with other stars preferred through the middle and Mohamed Salah a shoo-in on the right. Roberto Firmino, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota all played in a more central striker role instead with varying results.
With Firmino set to leave at the end of the season and winger Luis Diaz returning from his long-term injury, now may be the time for Klopp to put Liverpool’s record-signing back into his preferred situation.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund boss has never shied away from positional shifts during his time at Anfield, playing a key role in Firmino developing himself as one of the top forwards in the Premier League previously.
Firmino played as a winger under Brendan Rodgers before Klopp’s arrival but soon found himself in a central role, making use of his creativity in a deeper role which allowed his wingers to race in behind and leave defenders questioning whether to play a high line or drop back.
The spell out wide also appeared to benefit Firmino significantly, allowing him to understand the role of a winger and how was best to link up with those deployed on the flank and how their movement created space in other areas of the pitch – and Nunez may also have developed that area of his game this season too.
Speaking about Nunez’s debut campaign, Klopp said: “He needed time to settle. The most difficult thing for a striker is to come into a team that is not clicking. For him to have scored 15 goals anyway, imagine if by our standards a good season with 70 or 80 points, he would have scored 20-odd goals definitely.
“That’s how it is but they had much more that we created in this period. But 15 goals is still absolutely fine and three games to go so possibly increase that number as well. We spoke about it. He needs time to adapt. He had that at Benfica as well, but there wasn’t the language issue, or less of a language issue than there was here. It’s clear that we will try to help him and he can help us even more than he has done already.”
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