Paul Merson has told Jurgen Klopp that Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez simply must start against Brighton on Saturday.
Writing for Sportskeeda, Merson said that the Liverpool manager has to start backing his big money summer signing.
“Liverpool’s players have not featured heavily in the international break. Fabinho played only 70 minutes for Brazil, but he has travelled quite a bit. Thiago wasn’t picked by Spain for their Nations League fixtures, and he’ll be fresh going into this game,” said the pundit.
“Jurgen Klopp will persist with Salah and Luis Diaz in his forward line. I think he’s got to play Darwin Nunez as well – they paid a massive fee for him and they now have to back him. I’m still going with Liverpool to win this game.”
Nunez still not a guaranteed starter at Anfield
Merson has a point here. Nine games into his Liverpool career, Nunez has started just twice for his new club.
A big reason for that is of course his brainless sending off against Crystal Palace. The 23-year-old had just managed to find his way into the starting XI, only to ruin any immediate chance of doing so again.
Since he returned, Darwin has started once against Everton and come off the bench twice in the Champions League. The Napoli debacle aside, the Uruguayan has looked a threat each time without scoring.
Now, it’s surely time for him to get the chance from the beginning. Liverpool need him to come good and replace the goals of Sadio Mane. He won’t do that if he isn’t able to get a look-in.
Plainly, Klopp will know this better than anyone. The manager will also be getting a good look at him in training though, something the rest of us do not.
Perhaps Jurgen has just seen one or two things at the AXA that he’s not 100 per cent happy with. It also must be said that both Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota are looking good recently.
With Liverpool unable to drop any more points so early in the season, it isn’t really the time to experiment.
Darwin’s time will come, there shouldn’t be too much rush. But after a goal in midweek for Uruguay, his confidence should be up. Saturday could be the perfect moment to finally unleash the £180k-a-week man.
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