Liverpool were looking to pursue Heung-min Son prior to the end of the Premier League but a month later, the Reds have snapped up Darwin Nunez...CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Liverpool are close to completing the club-record signing of Benfica forward Darwin Nunez for £85m.
The striker will become the most expensive arrival since Virgil van Dijk swapped the south coast for Merseyside in 2017. Nunez proved a threat in both legs of their Champions League knockout clash with the Reds, scoring at the Estadio da Luz and Anfield.
Nunez’s arrival will be the latest addition in revitalising Liverpool’s fruitful attack that Jurgen Klopp moulded together at Anfield. A conundrum remains, however, with Sadio Mane’s departure looming, Mohamed Salah’s contract uncertainty yet to be resolved and Roberto Firmino’s first-team inclusion dwindling.
Luis Diaz ‘s impact was one that nobody could have envisaged, prior to his move in January, but provides a perfect example of what influence the Uruguayan forward could have despite only properly hitting the headlines last season – scoring 34 goals in 41 appearances in all competitions.
In light of Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid, reports emerged that the Reds were eyeing a move for Tottenham star Heung-min Son but saw their hopes scuppered by Antonio Conte leading the north London side to Champions League qualification next season.
But the form of the 22-year-old shows that Klopp might have found an alternative to the South Korean.
“It’s a similar deal to Luis Diaz. When we signed Luis Diaz, one of the reasons we were initially surprised was because he didn’t really have much background behind him, he hadn’t been on the European scene long, playing in Colombia two years previous to signing for Liverpool,” Josh Williams explained in the Analysing Anfield podcast.
“He hadn’t been on the scene long and Liverpool’s tendency when signing these players, particularly the expensive ones, they’ve usually got years of proof, Diaz didn’t really have that. It hasn’t proved to be a problem but with Nunez, he hasn’t got that.
“He’s experienced a season at Benfica, he was at Benfica season before, then Spanish second division with Almeria and the year before he spent his third year with Penarol in the Uruguayan top-flight. There’s not much to go on which is why these finishing numbers are interesting because he seems to be clinical, ruthless, and takes his chances.
“But it’s a relatively short sample size to what we’re used to dealing with Liverpool’s forwards. This season, I think Sadio Mane’s conversion rate was about 16 per cent, Jota’s was about the same and Cristiano Ronaldo’s was about the same. Son Heung-Min is 28 per cent, he is about that player, he is the type of player that takes his chances Son – he consistently overperforms his xG.
“Nunez is a little bit less, this season, according to Opta numbers, he posted numbers in the Portuguese top-flight of about 15 and he scored 22 non-penalty goals so he overperformed xG by about seven goals.”
