Alan Shearer says senior staff at Liverpool are delighted with Darwin Nunez

Alan Shearer says senior staff at Liverpool have told him how happy they are with Darwin Nunez at the moment.

Nunez has been in the spotlight of late for missing a spate of chances since the league’s restart last month. But writing for The Athletic this morning Shearer claims that, as per his own conversations, those at Liverpool are happy with the Uruguayan.

“10 goals [that Nunez has scored so far] isn’t such a bad marker. In the Premier League era, only Robbie Fowler, Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge, Salah and Diogo Jota have got there sooner for Liverpool,” writes the pundit.

“A deeper dig into those 15 ‘big’ misses paints a more nuanced picture — eight of them were on target and two hit the woodwork. Speak to senior people at Liverpool and they’ll tell you how much they love his movement, his pace and power and how Nunez always comes back for more.

“There was that early, idiotic moment when he was sent off against Crystal Palace and perhaps that dented his confidence, but supporters have stuck by him and that tells its own story.”

It does indeed. Yes, he’s missed chances, and plenty of big ones and that. But speak to any Liverpool fan and they’ll tell you that Nunez is in fact far from being the problem at Anfield right now.

Plenty more to come from Darwin

It’s good to see Shearer backing Nunez up this morning. As one of the best strikers of his generation, the pundit’s voice carries a lot of weight.

Given Nunez’s high-profile misses over recent weeks it would have been easy for him to stick the boot in. Shearer has done quite the opposite though, putting his full faith in the 23-year-old to come good.

By the sounds of it, those at Liverpool are doing the same. It will be interesting to see whether that stance remains if Nunez is still fluffing too many chances a year from now, though.

Plenty of comparisons have been drawn on social media between Liverpool’s No.27 and former Chelsea striker Timo Werner.

Werner had similar struggles in converting chances but always looked lively and dangerous. Having initially given him the benefit of the doubt, Chelsea’s frustrations eventually outgrew the positives and he was shipped back to RB Leipzig. There are some similarities to be seen, that’s quite clear.

But the difference would appear to be confidence. Werner looked shot of it right from the start at Chelsea. Nunez meanwhile doesn’t appear fazed by missing chances. He’ll get back up and score the next one.

So, it isn’t just lip service from the Liverpool staff here. The only doubt about Nunez is his finishing. Once he sorts that out, he’s going to be a monster.

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