Rio Ferdinand delivers Liverpool verdict on Darwin Nunez, has criticism of striker

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Darwin Nunez scored the winner for Liverpool on Wednesday night in a narrow 1-0 win over West Ham United – but Rio Ferdinand is yet to be convinced by the Uruguayan striker, branding him a “handful”, but he is not “quite clean”.

Nunez, 23, got across his man and headed home a Konstantinos Tsimikas cross as Liverpool held on to a win. They did ride their luck, though. Alisson saved a good penalty from Jarrod Bowen, and Tomas Soucek looked destined to score.

However, veteran James Milner got a toe in just at the right time to divert the ball for a corner. Ultimately, it is three important points on the board for the Reds. Nunez has five goals now, with three coming in his last four outings.

Discussing Nunez on his Vibe with Five YouTube channel following the end of Wednesday night’s fixtures, Ferdinand gave his take. While he likes Nunez’s aggression, he admits that he is not yet convinced by the striker – yet.

He’s hitting a bit of form now and if Klopp wants anyone scoring outside of Salah, it is Nunez. Classy is not the word I would use to describe him, he’s a handful, he’s bullish, aggressive, wants the battle, contact,” Ferdinand said.

He wants to run in behind and make it uncomfortable for defenders. His finishing, his execution isn’t quite clean, yet. He may get there. It might be confidence. At Benfica, there was still a rough edge around him. He can grow into that.”

Ferdinand yet to be convinced by Liverpool striker Nunez

While Nunez continues to score goals, though, he looks like that cleanness and quality will begin to come. His goal on Wednesday is something Liverpool have not had for much of Jurgen Klopp’s reign. A powerful, target man-like striker.

He gives Liverpool something different, a plan B to turn to if plan A is not working. His recent form might even tempt Klopp to make him the plan A, something he did on Wednesday night and it worked. Nunez needs goals to thrive.

But while those goals continue to flow, his confidence will remain high. It will not be long before he starts to convince the rest of the Premier League and pundits like Ferdinand.