Emile Heskey says Liverpool have an attacking player who reminds him of Luis Suarez

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Emile Heskey has backed Darwin Nunez to keep on battling at Liverpool.

After a terrific start to the season, Nunez has had a tricky time of late. 12 games without a goal thankfully didn’t turn into 13 as the 24-year-old ended his goal drought at Burnley on Tuesday. But nevertheless, he’s not in the best form.

Speaking to The Redmen TV yesterday though, Heskey shared exactly what Nunez needs to do to keep any disgruntled supporters off his back. And it has a little to do with Darwin’s Uruguayan inspiration.

“One key thing is that Liverpool fans will give you the benefit of the doubt if you work hard and run around and put yourself about,” the 45-year-old said of Nunez.

“That’s one of the key things he’s got, he’s got that tenacity about him. Suarez was another one who had that – but he put up numbers. But the fact that he [Suarez] ran around, he kicked people, he didn’t give anyone an inch, and I think Darwin’s got that as well but now it’s just about getting the numbers up, just getting that consistency.

“We’ve seen him score goals and he can score goals but it’s just that consistency, he’s quite erratic. The goal against Burnley was fantastic, he passed the ball into the net. But then you see another one that you’ll perceive as being easier and he’ll smash them. So, he’s just got to get that little bit of consistency, but the key thing for him is performances. Make sure your performances are on point because then the fans will back you to the hilt.”

Heskey makes Suarez comparison

It’s certainly true that Nunez has a little bit of Suarez about him. The latter was of course much more prolific in his later days as a Liverpool player, but it wasn’t always like that.

Luis had his own share of goal troubles upon initially signing for the Reds from Ajax.

After scoring minutes into his debut against Stoke City, the touch paper seemed to have been lit for the Uruguayan. But despite getting that monkey off his back, it was a long time until Suarez started hitting the net with any kind of frequency.

In his first six months at the club, the now Inter Miami forward bagged four times in 13 games. Respectable, but hardly anything special.

Then, having gotten a full pre-season under his belt, Suarez scored 11 Premier League goals in his first full campaign. 17 in all competitions. That is comparable with Nunez, who bagged nine league goals and 15 overall during 2022/23.

Having scored eight across all competitions so far this season, Darwin isn’t far off Suarez’s tally after a similar period.

But after 18 months of toiling a little in-front of goal, Luis suddenly took off during his second full campaign. Having scored 21 goals in 52 games up to that point, the Uruguay superstar then hit 61 in his next 81 appearances. Woof.

No one is necessarily expecting that kind of turnaround from Nunez. He and Suarez are different players after all. But even if he doesn’t suddenly turn into prime El Pistolero, as long as Darwin keeps hassling, harrying and playing with enthusiasm, then he’s valuable to Liverpool.