Graeme Souness already thinks one Liverpool signing was a ‘mistake’

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Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League giants have made ‘the same mistake’ as Chelsea when paying a colossal transfer fee for Darwin Nunez, speaking to talkSPORT (13 September, 12.30pm). 

Now, Souness is right to point out that investing up to £85 million on a 22-year-old centre-forward, one who had never before played one of Europe’s top five leagues, carries a sizeable degree of risk. Especially when you consider that Nunez was plying his trade in the Spanish second tier not so long ago.

Then again, it’s not really Liverpool’s style to break the bank on ‘proven’ performers. How many established, world class operators have the Reds signed since appointing Jurgen Klopp seven years ago? 

Ok, Thiago Alcantara is one. You could make an argument for Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk too. But, for the most part, the majority of the players Liverpool have signed since 2015 arrived not as the finished article but as talented up-and-comers looking to take their game to a whole new level. Nunez, in that sense, fits in alongside Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Fabio Carvalho and co.

But while such an approach has worked wonders during the Klopp era, Souness feels that a 100 million euro fee would have been better spent not on Nunez but on someone with years of elite-level experience under their belt. 

Did Liverpool and Chelsea make big mistakes in the transfer market?

Chelsea, he adds, made a similar ‘mistake’ when breaking the bank on 21-year-old Wesley Fofana.

“Fofana? £75 million? I’m sorry, for that sort of money, you’re wanting to buy the finished article; a guaranteed performer. With Fofana, you’re buying a bit of potential,” argues the former Rangers and Newcastle United manager.

“(Liverpool) have made the same mistake for me (with Nunez)!”

It’s fair to say Nunez has endured a, well, let’s say mixed start to life at Anfield. On one hand, there were decisive late goals against Manchester City and Fulham.

On the other, the most unnecessary of red cards against Crystal Palace; a game in which Liverpool would draw 1-1 in their worst start to a Premier League season since the early days of Brendan Rodgers.