Liverpool attacker Darwin Nunez thinks new signing Cody Gakpo will soon settle in and become a fan favourite at Anfield.
Speaking with the club’s official website, the Uruguay international spoke about how he’s becoming accustomed with his teammates’ playstyles, and how the Dutch arrival needs a little more time to fully adjust to his new team.
“Here at Liverpool I have teammates who are all high-quality footballers,” Nunez said.
“I need to be able to understand how they play a little more and it’s the same for them with me. It’s what settling into each other’s games is all about.
“They get used to how I play and, in turn, I grow accustomed to how they play. I think that in time we’ll start to see some good and positive results.
“For example, Gakpo is a quality player and has a lot of class. He’s physically strong too. I think he’ll be able to make people very happy at Liverpool.
“You have to also understand that he’s come here at a time when we’re not in the best of form and he will need time to settle in too.
“I think he’s done well in the games he’s featured in so far. I hope that with time I’ll develop a great understanding and then go on to bring some joy to the Liverpool fans.”
Nunez full of praise and hope for Gakpo
As Nunez says, Gakpo has probably arrived on Merseyside at the worst time possible.
He has come into an injury-ridden side, who are seriously out of form.
He hasn’t been given that initial period to settle in. Instead, with the likes of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino all out of action, he has been thrown straight into the starting XI, playing week-in week-out.
Therefore, even with all of these obstacles in his way, he has performed positively well for the Reds.
His best display yet came against Everton on Monday, where he looked far more confident picking up the ball from deep and running at defenders.
Furthermore, having scored his first goal at the club will now prove instrumental going forward, as he will no longer be worrying about when it’s going to happen.
The 23-year-old has shown signs of huge promise thus far, so hopefully he can continue to go from strength to strength during the remainder of the season.