Liverpool haven’t been at their best this season, though there is an expectation and anticipation across the red Merseyside streets that Arne Slot has what it takes to turn things around.
The Dutch coach won the Premier League in his first year at the helm, after all, and he achieved this having spent very little last summer, welcoming Federico Chiesa from Juventus for a cut-price £12.5m fee and then using the Italian sparingly across the campaign.
It didn’t matter, though. Liverpool were spearheaded by Mohamed Salah’s jaw-dropping season, the Egyptian breaking any number of records as he claimed his second Premier League title. He won a gamut of individual accolades too.
But Salah is 33 years old, and it was clear to Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes that the Reds needed sweeping changes across the final third, with no guarantees that Salah would replicate such a one-of-a-kind campaign.
It was clear, indeed, that Darwin Nunez needed to be sold after three seasons on Merseyside that left plenty to be desired.
Why Liverpool sold Darwin Nunez
Liverpool signed Nunez from Benfica for an initial £64m fee in 2022. That figure would have risen to a club-record £85m mark, but for the Uruguayan’s struggles across his three years in England, that meant targets were left unhit.
Across three seasons, he only scored 25 times in the Premier League. This statistic is aggravated by Sofascore data revealing that the 25-year-old missed 53 big chances during that timeframe.
Nunez’s plight at number nine, first across two years in Jurgen Klopp’s system and then under Slot’s wing, was played out against the backdrop of a trophy-rich period at Anfield, and he did depart this summer as a Premier League champion.
Premier League
95
25 (16)
Champions League
17
5 (1)
Carabao Cup
13
2 (6)
Europa League
10
5 (1)
FA Cup
7
2 (2)
Community Shield
1
1 (0)
But Nunez, now plying his trade with Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, never failed to shake off the wasteful tag that chased him through his English career.
It was crucial that he was replaced, and replaced he was this summer.
Liverpool first wrapped up a £69m move for Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike, and the French forward already looks levels above Nunez at the Liverpool spearhead.
However, another Redman has been criticised for offering less than Nunez did last season, with the South American posting seven goals and seven assists across 47 matches in Slot’s system.
Liverpool forward is 'offering less than Nunez'
Liverpool ‘won’ the transfer window. So many exciting signings were welcomed down Anfield Road, but the club have found it tough across the opening months of the season, and club-record signing Alexander Isak is the perfect example of that.
Isak, 26, is one of the finest goalscorers in world football, and Liverpool ended a highly-charged transfer saga this summer by completing the British-record £125m addition of Newcastle United’s talisman.
However, Isak went on strike in the build-up to his big move, and this has left him scrambling for form across his opening matches, lacking match fitness and fluency.
More is expected at this stage, and Liverpool correspondent David Lynch has even gone as far as to suggest that the 6 foot 3 striker is “offering Liverpool less than Darwin Nunez did” at the moment, with just one goal and one assist across eight appearances this term.
Isak gave his new club a flavour of his skill when netting against Southampton in the Carabao Cup at the start of October, but it’s been a transitional period for him, to be sure.
And Lynch is right. Nunez had offered Liverpool more at this stage last season, but that does not mean that Isak will continue to struggle.
This is all to be taken with a pinch of salt, of course. Only in January did pundit Jamie Carragher hail Isak as “the best striker in the Premier League”.
Last season, the Sweden star ranked among the top 3% of Premier League forwards for goal involvements, the top 12% for goal-creating actions and the top 14% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref. He scored 27 goals across all competitions, including the decisive strike against Liverpool to lift the Carabao Cup at Wembley.
His all-encompassing attacking style has even seen comparisons drawn with former Liverpool superstar Luis Suarez, who was as prolific as they come in England and played his football was such gusto and personality.
Suarez was a one-of-a-kind centre-forward, but then so is Isak. Liverpool just haven’t been treated to his finest skills yet. However, it is on Isak to get himself up to speed and prove he is anything but Nunez-esque.
Whereas Nunez fell by the wayside after completing his big-money move from overseas, Isak has proven himself and then some on English shores since joining Newcastle from Real Sociedad for £63m in 2022. His time on Tyneside was no joke, and Liverpool would bear testament to their record-signing’s might after his string of brilliant performances against the Anfield side in the past.
Now that autumn is deepening, Liverpool must ensure that Isak is nursed toward full health, though Slot will be cautious after the £280k-per-week superstar was kept on the fringe across the recent international break by Sweden boss Graham Potter.
Ekitike has proved he is every bit the elite rival to thrive at number nine when Isak is injured or merely rested, but Liverpool will expect their British-record addition to start proving they have received bang for their buck soon, especially given the need to ease the weight of the club’s current crisis.
For a respected reporter to be observing that Isak is currently pulling less weight than Nunez was, a highly polarising former Red, that is evidence that it hasn’t been good enough, and needs to be quickly changed.
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