‘Quality’ Liverpool player set for a position change after Diogo Jota’s injury – RTK View

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Darwin Nunez appears set for a position change after Diogo Jota picked up a long-term injury. Liverpool must shift things around.

Liverpool sold their best left-winger in the summer as Sadio Mané joined Bayern Munich. That left Luis Diaz as the main-man on the flank (though, he was playing there even with Mané at the club). But the Colombian is out until after the World Cup.

Diogo Jota, then, took up the mantle. Now he’s out, too – it could be three months without the Portuguese forward.

So what now? Liverpool are down to the bare bones at the position and the most obvious answer now feels like Darwin Nunez. Yes, the Reds paid a big fee for him to be their centre-forward but his immediate future could be on the flank.

Darwin Nunez set for position change

Nunez did operate from the left flank against Manchester City on Sunday – and to great effect. While he should absolutely have passed to Mohamed Salah and wrapped up the game, the Uruguayan did exactly what Jurgen Klopp needed him to.

The 23-year-old moved in an out of the channel, dragging defenders around and looking to get in behind. His physicality made it incredibly difficult for full-backs and wingers to stop him. Nunez was therefore a constant counter-attacking threat and he carried the ball up the pitch regularly, easing the pressure on Liverpool.

That out-ball can be lethal for Liverpool and we imagine they’ll turn to it now. Nunez is an incredible threat, offering a late run into the box for crosses or simply as a wide player who’s also comfortable going up against centre-backs.

Nunez has played the position with some regularity before. He knows it well enough and in the current 4-4-2, he’ll have the freedom to drift in off the flank as often as he wants.

He’s not the perfect player for the position, of course, but we think Jurgen Klopp can make this work really well. Perhaps it’s the way to go tomorrow, in fact.

Ian Wright recently said the ‘quality’ Nunez just needs a few games to truly click with Liverpool. While he was talking about a centre-forward role, maybe the left-wing allows the player the freedom to express himself fully as he learns.