Darwin Nunez has only started three games for Liverpool this season following his £64m move from Benfica in June.
Jurgen Klopp has tipped Darwin Nunez to hit form at Liverpool once he begins to ‘calm down’ in front of goal.
It’s been a difficult opening few months at Anfield for Nunez since he became a £64m striker in June. A three-game suspension followed after he was sent off just an hour into his full debut under Klopp against Crystal Palace and the former Benfica star has started just two games since that 1-1 draw ay Anfield in mid-August.
Having netted against Fulham on the opening weekend of the campaign, Nunez is yet to add to that equaliser in the 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, but Klopp is seeing signs that his big-money addition is close to hitting the goal trail.
Nunez started Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Rangers in the Champions League and turned in a lively cameo that saw him denied by veteran goalkeeper Allan McGregor four times in the first half.
I think he said it himself that he feels the pressure and these kinds of things,” Klopp said, “He needs to calm himself down, but you can see that his movements are exceptional. If you could see him finishing in training, you’d think, ‘wow! my God!’.
“But then in the games he’s in a bit of a rush and he just needs to calm down in those moments and use his full range of finishing. As a striker you just have to feel it and go from there. So it’s not to change anything, it’s just to keep going really.
“He doesn’t speak English. Not at all, [he knows] ‘good morning’ and ‘let’s go’. He’s a kid as well as how they all are in moments, but a confident person as well, but not a grown-up man already, we all know that. He has a baby, but he has to grow as a man. That’s clear, but it’s all fine.
“The headline was he doesn’t understand a word I’m saying, I know that. That was the same with Bobby Firmino and other players. Maybe a big part of Bobby’s success was he didn’t understand a word I said because he did everything right without understanding me!”
Klopp, whose Liverpool side visit Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, added: “For Darwin, it’s slightly different. It’s a completely different situation. He gets all the necessary information obviously. We have Spanish speakers on the coaching staff and the team. That’s all fine. I understand why you ask that, but I would say it’s all fine.
It was not a perfect start. He has a three-game suspension, and you can’t get rid of that. He’s an aggressive player, he’s emotional but it should never happen again. There are a lot of things and now the opponents go for him again.
“But I really like his movements, they are really good and natural. That’s something we didn’t have in that way before. That’s what I like and why I’m sure everything will be fine.
What is the worst situation when you come in as a striker? That your team is not playing exceptionally well because you depend on the things, they bring to you. That has happened. Now we judge two things, but we should only judge one thing.
“We need to perform consistently to our level and beyond and then you need a striker to finish off all the things we create. That’s it.”
