Jurgen Klopp has hailed Darwin Nunez after the Liverpool striker scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over West Ham United on Wednesday.
The Uruguayan hitman was given the chance to lead the line for Liverpool as they hosted David Moyes’ Hammers.
Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz are both out injured right now, which will ultimately lead to more chances for Nunez moving forward.
Nunez certainly took his chance against West Ham, planting a fine header past Lukasz Fabianski from a Kostas Tsimikas cross.
Jurgen Klopp has hailed Darwin Nunez
Nunez has taken a while to get going in a Liverpool shirt but the recent signs have been very encouraging.
The summer signing from Benfica was a real handful against Arsenal and grabbed himself a goal before getting on the scoresheet against Rangers just days later.
Nunez came off the bench to wreak havoc against Manchester City on Sunday and then scored on Wednesday, making it three goals in four.
Expectations were high when Nunez was signed from Benfica, with three main factors playing into that.
Nunez was a goal machine for Benfica last season, the price tag was enormous for Liverpool and he was signed to effectively replace Sadio Mane.
Add in the ridiculous comparisons to Erling Haaland and Nunez’s slow start to life in England was pounced upon.
This was always going to take time though. Nunez is a raw player, more so than Haaland, and his language barrier is bigger too.
Nunez is showing what a threat he can be and has now earned praise from Liverpool boss Klopp.
Klopp has told the Liverpool Echo that he thinks Nunez is an ‘exceptional talent’ but that he has been struggling with homesickness of late.
Klopp is clearly ready to be patient with Nunez but believes that he can still use his technique a little more than he has shown so far.
“He’s young, he’s really young and has felt a little bit homesick, worrying and all these sorts of things so we have to make early changes, it’s fine we can do that,” said Klopp.
“Of course [the goal] is important. He’s scored a couple of times in the last few games so he’s obviously arrived 100%, now with numbers. It’s fine. I expect him to put them in the back of the net. It’s just like he is an exceptional talent, we can see that, the runs, the physicality, the speed, the finishing skills are exceptional, he has a good technique but doesn’t use them all the time,” he added.
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