Rio Ferdinand compared his former Manchester United teammate Diego Forlán to Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez this week. We may be seeing something similar in the compatriots.
People have a lot to say about Darwin Nunez these days after his start to life with Liverpool. The Uruguayan has scored goals but also misses several quality chances per game.
At the same time, he’s making things happen in every single game. No, he didn’t score against Leicester City but he forced the winner. Nunez also created the all-important goal against Aston Villa before that, too.
Still, people focus on his missed chances – and perhaps that’s fair enough. After all, he’s leading the line for Liverpool and ends up with the opportunities in front of goal. Nunez just wastes a lot of them and that makes life more difficult for the team.
Rio Ferdinand, however, wouldn’t write off Nunez becoming a prolific striker down the line. He compares him to a former teammate of his at Manchester United – fellow Uruguayan, Diego Forlán.
Diego Forlán and Darwin Nunez
“Do you remember, Diego Forlan? He couldn’t hit a barn door at Old Trafford,” Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel.
“He scored against the Scousers. But he couldn’t hit a barn door. He goes away and I think he wins the European Golden Boot. I think once or maybe twice. He becomes a great player. A great player for Uruguay and the various clubs he represented.
“I think Nunez has got something. What I like about him is that he is getting the chances. I would be more concerned if he wasn’t getting the chances. He’s a young player. He is growing into the game. It’s a new league. I think there is more to come from him.”
Forlán is a fine example. He struggled badly with United, scoring 17 goals in 98 games. Then he went to Spain and things clicked with him, first with Villarreal and then Atletico Madrid. Two European Golden Boots later and Forlán went down as an elite goalscorer.
But Liverpool can look even closer to home than that for an example. Luis Suárez, yet another Uruguayan, missed chance after chance in his first full season at Anfield. He appeared to prefer hitting the post to the back of the net at times.
11 goals came in the Premier League that season but things clicked in the following campaign. 23 in 33 games, then 31 in 33 games. Sometimes it just takes time.
As Ferdinand says, Nunez is getting the chances and things just need to click for him. Eventually they will and Liverpool will have a phenomenon.
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