Jurgen Klopp says 24-year-old Liverpool player has still not reached his full potential

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Liverpool had a number of star performers during their 5-1 rout of Sparta Prague this evening.

Alexis Mac Allister was once again fantastic as the driving force for Liverpool. Meanwhile Caoimhin Kelleher was a brick wall in the Reds goal.

But neither Mac Allister nor Kelleher could top the display turned in by Darwin Nunez. Fresh from scoring a huge winning goal against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Nunez was at it again in Prague, belting in two lovely goals during the first half.

Inevitably, Jurgen Klopp was asked about his No.9 while speaking to the press post-game. And as per journalist Paul Gorst on X, the Liverpool manager delivered a rave review. However, Klopp also claimed that there’s still so much more to come from Nunez.

“He had a more than OK first season but had to adapt,” explained the Reds boss. “Wonderful boy, loves playing for this club with his boys and has quality coming out his ears.

“It’s like strikers are. Is he at his peak? Not yet, can he develop? Yes. But he’s always a threat.”

Klopp backs Nunez improvement

Everyone always knew that Darwin was likely to improve the more time wore on. After a passable first season, he has done that now into his second campaign.

The Uruguayan’s two goals tonight mean that he has now surpassed his goal tally from last season. 16 goals in 40 games compared to 15 in 42 last year. It’s not a huge difference, but it somehow feels it.

As Klopp points out though, there is still so much scope for improvement with Nunez. That’s the most exciting thing.

There are moments – like his second goal of the evening tonight – where you look at the 24-year-old and think he may just be fully formed.

That isn’t the case and there will be a few more bumps along the way. But it’s clear that Darwin is getting closer and closer to reaching what he could be.

Unfortunately for Jurgen, he is unlikely to see the true fruits of that brought to harvest. It feels likely that we’ll now see something approaching peak Nunez next season.

Still, Klopp will still surely see a few more goals before he bids Liverpool farewell this summer. The next target for Darwin should be 20. With at least 13 games left to play this year, that should be possible.

From there, the sky should be the limit for him. If he can continue on this trajectory heading into next season, we can start thinking about some seriously big numbers from the Uruguay international.

Still, as Klopp also points out, even if he isn’t scoring Nunez is contributing. He’s always a threat whether the final action ends up in the net or not. As tonight proved again, they’re starting to find their way there more often than ever.