Darwin Nunez garnered plenty of outside criticism after his performances in Liverpool’s preseason fixtures against Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
Nunez came off of the bench in both matches, and he did not end up scoring a goal in either contest. Even after a mere two friendly matches played, there was already some doubt on whether he would end up meeting the high expectations that were placed on him after he joined Liverpool via an £85 million transfer fee.
Nunez wound up turning his form around for Liverpool on Thursday, as he notched four goals scored in the Reds’ 5-0 friendly victory over Bundesliga club RB Leipzig. He simply had his way while maintaining possession in the German side's defensive third.
In the big picture, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has heard of the criticisms toward Nunez, but as he noted following the win against RB Leipzig, he sees that the Uruguayan striker is a “really good one.”
“We always think that if you pay a lot of money then the players feel no pressure or whatever,” Klopp said. “They are all completely normal human beings and the first touch is not perfect then all of a sudden. … This generation of players read social media, which is really not smart, but they do. All of a sudden you get in a rush and these kinds of things. That’s the best way obviously to stop all these discussions.
“He’s a different striker to what we have or what we had, but he’s a really good one.”
Liverpool will now have a friendly encounter against Red Bull Salzburg up next before it clashes with Manchester City in the 2022 Community Shield Final.
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