Jurgen Klopp has said ‘exceptional’ Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez ‘has everything’ – but wants him to use his technique better.
The club’s record signing was the matchwinner against West Ham with his first-half goal opening his Anfield account in a 1-0 victory.
Nunez met Kostas Tsimikas’ cross in the 22nd minute, heading it down and over Lukasz Fabianski to decide the match.
That wasn’t all though, the 23-year-old was constantly troubling the Hammers defence, hitting the post and drawing saves from their Polish goalkeeper.
Nunez hasn’t had the easiest of starts at Liverpool following his £64million [rising to £85m] arrival from Benfica and has struggled for consistency.
But his manager Klopp isn’t at all worried, and was mightily impressed with the Uruguayan against the Hammers.
“The goal is exceptional huh?” he told Amazon post-match. “The situations he had, the other chances he had were exceptional.
“Being between the centre halves, I’m 100 per cent sure someone will say Thilo Kehrer has to do better but it’s really difficult [against Nunez].
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“He’s a real weapon, but you could see with the other movements in behind, the half-volley with the left foot, great saves from Lukasz Fabianski.
“He is an exceptional talent, you can see that, his runs, the speed he has, the physicality, the finishing skills are absolutely exceptional.
“He had a really good technique but doesn’t use it all the time, sometimes he’s too much in a rush and the first contact goes somewhere, but he has everything there.
“We are really excited about him but most of the time when you’re young you have time to develop and you have to develop.”
Klopp confirmed that Nunez’ 57th minute substitution was just precautionary with his hamstrings tight at half-time, and that left the rest of his teammates to finish off the game.
Nunez was far from the only matchwinner on the night as well, with Alisson Becker saving a penalty from Jarrod Bowen in the first-half, before he and James Milner somehow kept out a Tomas Soucek chance late on.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was asked about his new South American teammate post-match, and explained how difficult it is to settle in a new country.
“We are helping him a lot,” the No.1 said. “We keep him really close but he’s a really good lad.
“I know that it’s not easy, it’s really difficult to settle in a different country.
“When I came I knew a little bit more English but he’s learning, he’s working hard on that, not only on the pitch, he’s a really disciplined boy and we are trying to help him, help Lucho [Luis Diaz], we are a really strong team that sticks together, works together all the time.”
Virgil van Dijk was also asked about Nunez, and called him the ‘modern day striker’.
“I think he has so much potential,” the Dutchman explained. “He’s young, he’s learning the way we play, he’s learning English which is also helpful.
“He’s the modern day striker that causes a lot of defenders problems and you could see it today with his runs behind, and his build up play is getting better so we have different weapons to try and exploit opponents.”
