‘Everybody laughed at him’: Owen thinks Liverpool player ‘could be’ the second coming of a Chelsea legend

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Darwin Nunez ‘could be’ another Didier Drogba, says former Liverpool striker Michael Owen. He sees some similarities.

Michael Owen sees quite a bit of Didier Drogba in Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan has made an incredible impression since arriving at Liverpool in the summer – but not just through goals.

In fact, some seem to wonder if Nunez is even a good player. That’s despite scoring seven goals this season as he adapts to his new team. Owen feels people criticising him will end up ‘with egg on their face’ down the line.

“I think the people who are a little bit negative are going to have egg on their face in a couple of years,” he told Matchday Live. “This lad, okay he’s raw in one or two areas but he does things that take your breath away.”

Owen then went on to make a comparison to Drogba, who also had his critics on arriving in English football.

“[Nunez] does have one or two things that I think ‘wow’,” he said. “The size of him, the pace of him, he’s so aggressive in everything he does.

“I remember when Didier Drogba came into this league and everybody laughed at him. His touch was awful for the first year, he made a lot of mistakes, he looked quite raw himself and then he developed. into an absolute monster of a centre-forward.

“I think this lad could be the same.”

Darwin Nunez and Didier Drogba

We can see the comparison, even if they’ll end up being different players. Both rely massively on their physicality, though, rather than tricky technical play.

Drogba, although hardly slow, was far more about strength than pace. Nunez is the other way around – he’s strong but it’s his pace that makes him hard to handle.

And it’s certainly true that Drogba faced criticism on arriving in English football. He joined Chelsea for a then-massive fee, much like Nunez. He finished his debut campaign with 10 goals, which again, the Uruguayan is on course to do.

We’ll have to hope Nunez finds comfort in the league the same way Drogba did, then. Those are lofty heights we’re hoping for – the Ivorian delivered so much for Chelsea – but the raw attributes are there.