Luis Garcia noted he felt Darwin Nunez struggled somewhat in Liverpool’s opening two pre-season fixtures against Manchester United and Crystal Palace.
The 23-year-old was lambasted online after a less than thrilling unofficial debut against the Red Devils, which was made all the worse by the four-goal thrashing administered on the day.
“In the two games against Manchester United and Crystal Palace he has struggled,” the former Red told ESPN (via Football365).
“He wants to show that he is going to be ready to play, with the press, with that high pressure that Klopp does with Liverpool.
“But after three or four runs he was tired. He had a few chances, but I think it was because he was tired.
“He only had three [training] sessions, then into the game with Manchester United. He had ten sessions then faced Crystal Palace, but only played 30 minutes.”
Though the early signs are that our £64m signing may need more time to hit the ground running compared to his fellow former Primeira Liga attacker in Luis Diaz, it’s far too premature to suggest that this was an extremely rare dud addition made by the recruitment team.
It’s a point that’s been made more times than is necessary, however, we feel it’s critical to emphasise once again that Julian Ward and Co. simply wouldn’t commit to a potentially record-breaking deal (taking into account add-ons) unless absolutely certain the transfer made sense.
If reassurance is still required, it’s worth remembering how Nunez has responded to similar levels of adversity before his move to Merseyside.
His final campaign with Benfica, for instance, was a significant improvement on what came before, justifying what had been deemed at the time to be something of a gamble for a relatively unproven striker.
If the former Penarol man keeps struggling all the way through pre-season, it still won’t be time to hit the panic button.
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