Pep Lijnders says Darwin Nunez was in a very exclusive club last season with his performances against Liverpool. No wonder the Reds felt they should sign him.
Liverpool spent a fortune on Darwin Nunez this summer. Per the Athletic, the Reds put down an initial £64m that could rise to £85m in order to pry him away from Benfica.
It’s an awful lot of money for a then-22-year-old who’s really only had one great season at the top level. And even then, it wasn’t in a league traditionally considered one of Europe’s five best.
So what convinced Liverpool to sign Nunez? 32 goals across the Primeira Liga and Champions League certainly helped but that wasn’t all. As Pep Lijnders points out, the Uruguayan was in an exclusive club last season.
“You need to be spot on with your characteristics [when signing players],” Lijnders told The Times. “There were not many strikers last year who caused a lot of issues for our centre-halves but he was definitely one of them.
“We are really happy with him.”
Pep Lijnders on Darwin Nunez
Liverpool boast one of the world’s best defences – you stand up and take notice when someone troubles them. Because even if the Reds can be got at, it’s incredibly rare that an individual player gets the best of them.
Now, it’s debatable if Nunez ‘got the best of them’ but he unquestionably troubled Liverpool’s centre-backs in the Champions League last season. But then, he troubled everyone’s centre-backs.
Nunez’s skillset is such that he can hurt defences in a myriad of ways. He’s too physical to play up against in the box, while he’s too quick to play a high line. He’s a one-touch finisher but also capable of drifting wide into space.
It’s a big ask – how do you set up against a player who could try anything? That’s the magic of Nunez and why Liverpool paid a fortune for him.
Now it’s time to see just how good he can get.
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