Jurgen Klopp already has the ‘genius’ 103-goal blueprint for Darwin Nunez – RTK view

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Jurgen Klopp already has the blueprint for Darwin Nunez in his locker. The Liverpool boss has worked with a similar star before.

There’s a big change coming at Liverpool as they move away from a False 9 and towards a traditional striker. That’s the result of signing Darwin Nunez this summer – a very different player from Roberto Firmino.

Now, Nunez isn’t quite ready to be the main-man at Anfield and the Brazilian will still play a big role this summer. But it’s clear that Jurgen Klopp and co. want to move in a different direction.

Klopp has used Firmino as his centre-forward for a long time now. He’s been the creative spark through the middle, creating space for others and taking a backseat to scoring goals. Nunez, however, won’t do that.

So how will this work? Well, fortunately, Klopp has worked with a tall, physical goalscorer before and that lays the blueprint for Nunez’s success.

The blueprint for Darwin Nunez

Klopp’s best Borussia Dortmund team was driven by Robert Lewandowski as his centre-forward. The Pole is a hard-working target up top – a player who will press hard and look for a direct route to goal.

He scored 103 goals under Klopp, too, as he established himself as one of the world’s very best strikers. Lewandowski admits that he owes his development to the German, too.

“He taught me so much,” said Lewandowksi, per the Liverpool Echo. “When I arrived at Dortmund, I wanted to do everything quickly: strong pass, one touch only. Jurgen showed me to calm down – to take two touches if necessary. It was totally against my nature, but soon I was scoring more goals.

“When I had that down, he challenged me to speed it up again. One touch, bang, goal. He slowed me down to speed me up. It sounds simple, but it was genius, really.”

Klopp’s incredible success with Lewandowksi lays the groundwork for Nunez. In fact, we imagine the Uruguayan is exactly the type of striker would have gone for if Firmino wasn’t around. The desire to use a False 9 was purely because Liverpool had a unique player in the Brazilian.

But Klopp knows how to develop a player just like Nunez and we can imagine he’ll follow the same kind of training that he did with Lewandowski. And if Liverpool end up with someone anywhere near as good, there will be a new hero at Anfield.