Jurgen Klopp has claimed that although he doesn’t know Darwin Nunez ‘well enough’ at the moment he insists that the Uruguayan ‘isn’t bothered’ about being compared to Erling Haaland,.
Both forwards are being tipped to provide real firepower for their respective clubs this season following their big-money moves this summer.
Nunez arrived from Benfica for £64m and will look to replace the goals of Sadio Mane who departed Merseyside for Bayern Munich recently whilst Haaland’s arrival at Manchester City comes after he netted 85 goals in 88 appearances for Borussia Dortmund.
“I don’t know Darwin well enough yet but at the moment he is just concerned that he can score for us and set up goals for us or whatever,” Klopp said (as quoted by the Express). “I think at the moment he isn’t bothered about comparisons or rivalries, not at all. But if there was a situation towards the end of the season about goalscoring or whatever then there could be, yes.
“I don’t think Mo Salah would look at that either yet. It was always clear that Haaland at City would work out. It’s a chance-producing side and he is a finisher so it was always clear and that is why it is not a surprise or whatever.”
Our new No. 27 has hit the ground running in the famous Red shirt somewhat after he scored and won his side a penalty against City in the Community Shield recently and then found the back of the net and registered an assist on the opening week of the Premier League against Fulham.
He will be licking his lips at the thought of earning more minutes for Klopp’s side when they welcome Crystal Palace to Anfield on Monday night.
Both sides are looking for their first win of the season after Palace were defeated 2-0 by Arsenal last week but our German boss has insisted that he hasn’t set Nunez a goals target for this season.
“No I didn’t – of course no,” Klopp said.
And when discussing how his side can improve from the disappointing 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage last time out, the 55-year-old claimed his side must ‘bring the intensity’ against Patrick Vieira’s side.
“We just try to make sure that our football – the football idea we have – that it is obvious again and consistently all the time,” he added. “Because if we can do that it is still very uncomfortable to play against us and that is really my first concern.
“I hope that happens again because from there we can then start thinking about twists and tweaks and how we can do this and how we can improve areas. But now the first thing for us is that we bring in the intensity and we will be fine.”
Facing the Eagles certainly won’t be easy with the threat they can pose on the counter attack but we simply must improve from our performance at Fulham.
There was nothing much to take from that performance against Marco Silva’s side other than Nunez’s impressive impact – but with many tipping the Uruguay international to start tomorrow, let’s hope for a much improved showing from the rest of his teammates.
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