-Credit:2025 Liverpool FC
When Liverpool splurged a club-record transfer fee on Darwin Nunez in 2022, it might have been expected that the Uruguayan would sit out cup games against lower-league opposition.
Mohamed Salah, Ryan Gravenberch and Virgil van Dijk were all taken out of the starting line-up versus Accrington Stanley on Saturday, but Nunez simply isn’t one of the players that Arne Slot will think he needs to wrap in cotton wool for tougher tests ahead.
He has scored just four goals all season and it’s long since been established that he does not make it into Slot’s favored first-choice starting XI.
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So, it was no surprise to see him named in Liverpool’s line-up versus Accrington, and in the opening 15 minutes of the match he missed two very presentable chances which demonstrated why he frustrates Reds fans so much.
Nunez’s first chance came when Harvey Elliott crossed for him but he headed over the crossbar from around six yards out, then a few minutes later, the ball fell to Nunez after Trent Alexander-Arnold had seen a low shot blocked by the goalkeeper, and he blazed the ball over the bar from around 12 yards. out.
The finishes summed up why Robbie Fowler, who was on ITV punditry duty for the match, said prior to kick-off he doesn’t think Nunez is the right fit for Liverpool in the long run.
“Not quick enough in his thoughts, when he has time to think he struggles, his speed of thought as a striker has got to improve,” Fowler said. “You’re not signing him to work hard, you’ve got to score goals, you’ve got to perform better, you’ve got to do better in that Liverpool shirt. The more I see him, the more I think he’s not a Liverpool player.”
Nunez did assist Liverpool’s opening goal against Accrington, squaring the ball for Diogo Jota to tap home from close range, but in truth, even a hat-trick versus League Two opposition wouldn’t do too much to raise his stock.
He will need to prove himself on the biggest stage in order to convince Fowler and Liverpool’s supporters that he is worth keeping around.