Michael Owen believes Liverpool have an extremely exciting prospect in attacker Darwin Nunez.
Speaking on BT Sport’s coverage of the Reds’ defeat at the hands of Real Madrid last night, the former Anfield striker took time to praise Liverpool’s forward options – claiming Jurgen Klopp has one very special youngster in his ranks.
“The front five are brilliant,” said Owen.
“Darwin Nunez was the hottest striker around last year.
“Cody Gakpo was one of the stars of the World Cup.
“When they bought Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, they weren’t £100m players – they weren’t the best in the world at the time.
“Nunez could be anything; he could be one of the best in the world in five years.”
Owen full of praise for Nunez
Despite showing signs of promise, the Uruguayan couldn’t beat Thibaut Courtois in front of goal last night.
Nunez has often been the Reds’ biggest attacking threat this season, and having started on the left against Madrid, this was certainly the case again.
However, Jurgen Klopp didn’t think he was up to his usual standards – hooking him off with half-an-hour left to play.
“Darwin looked like he was not on the absolute top level as well and then we need to defend that side as well because conceding a goal is not helpful in that situation,” said Klopp, during his post-match press conference.
Whilst we always stick by the manager, he was completely wrong to take the 23-year-old off so early on.
If anyone was going to score, it was Nunez; Diogo Jota certainly wasn’t going to get anywhere near.
Therefore, although Klopp usually does seem to hold faith in the attacker, a little more last night could have gone a long way.
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