Greg . 2 hours ago

Why Darwin Nunez didn't live up to the hype during his time at Liverpool

At just 26 years of age, Darwin Nunez has left the relative comfort of European football for the backwaters of the Saudi Pro League.

In some ways mirroring the career of Joao Felix, Nunez has proven to be something of an enigma.

A player who undoubtedly had immense talent but who didn't show it often enough.

That neither player was truly courted by teams in Europe says an awful lot, and though Nunez and Felix will earn a pretty penny whilst in the Middle East, spending your supposed peak years as a player in a league that is vastly inferior to many others, despite what Cristiano Ronaldo would have you believe, is a desperate last throw of the dice on a career threatening to peter out.

When Liverpool acquired Nunez in 2022 it was on the back of a season where he'd scored 26 goals in 28 Portuguese league games for Benfica, and he'd also provided four assists.

Add in another two goals in the League Cup and 28 goals in 29 games makes for even more impressive reading.

Nunez couldn't replicate 2021/22 campaign at LiverpoolHowever, if the Reds' lauded recruitment team had done their homework properly, they would've seen that the 2021/22 season was clearly a one-off.

In the previous campaign, his first at the Portuguese giants, he'd managed just nine goals and nine assists in 36 domestic games (all competitions).

Hardly figures to write home about.

It seems that Benfica themselves had been assuaged by Nunez's goalscoring record at Almeria, with 16 goals and three assists in 32 games giving the striker an elite one-in-two goals-per-game average.

Darwin Nunez Radar Graphic - Benfica, 2021/22 Portuguese League SeasonOpta by Stats PerformThat he did so in a Spanish Segunda Division that he was quite obviously too good for seems to have been overlooked.

A first Premier League season at Liverpool saw nine goals scored in 29 games for a reasonable enough one-in-three ratio, and that's likely to have been acceptable because the Uruguayan was getting used to the demands of the English top-flight.

There was only a slight improvement to 11 goals in 2023/24, however, and that's arguably when the doubts about his suitability for the team began to creep in.

Almost as many shots off target as on targetHe had almost as many shots off target (40) as he did on target (46), with 22 more blocked or cleared, a shot conversion rate of just 12.

8% and 17 of his 21 headers also missed the target.

27 big chances were missed, the most in a single season in his career, and given that he'd had 204 touches in the opposition box across the campaign - also the most in one season - those were clearly figures of a striker lacking confidence in front of goal.

 Even his movement became predictable for the most part and just 40 dribbles was signifcantly down on the previous three league seasons.

Although his passing was a poor 71.

6% in the same campaign, it was actually his best return in a league season.

To put that into perspective, however, Mo Salah's was 78.

3% - the same as Trent Alexander-Arnold - in 23/24 and the Egyptian King was far less profligate in front of goal than his fellow attacker.

When Arne Slot took the reins at Anfield from Jurgen Klopp, there would've been a very real expectation from the playing staff that slates would be wiped clean and the Dutchman would pick his best XI based on his own eyes rather than what had gone before.

Slot's rein should've seen a reset for NunezIt was the perfect time for Nunez to take a step forward and earn himself a more permanent residency in the Liverpool starting XI.

That he started just eight of 30 Premier League games in 2024/25 tells its own story, and his miss against Aston Villa despite having the entire goal to aim at had Slot holding his head in his hands.

Arne Slot on Darwin NunezOpta by Stats PerformFive goals in the league was perhaps understandable given the sporadic nature of his appearances, but Nunez himself will have understood that return simply wasn't good enough, even taking his circumstances into account.

Body language is often a visible indicator of mindset, and with Nunez continously looking like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, it seemed that a parting of the ways was becoming more and more inevitable the longer the season progressed.

Lack of interest in Europe​Though a lack of interest from other big clubs in Europe will have hit Nunez hard, it's possible that he will rediscover his scoring touch in the Saudi Pro League.

Whether that will lead to an offer from any clubs in the big five leagues in future is a moot point at this stage, but with so much of his career still in front of him, the player needs to use that as fuel and motivation to climb back towards something approaching his best level.

If he's unwilling or unable to do so, he'll be just another player that didn't come nearing fulfilling his potential.

Jason PettigroveBetopick