When Arne Slot was first announced as Jurgen Klopp’s successor, there was an understanding one of his first major tasks at Liverpool would be improving Darwin Nunez.
The Uruguayan, however, appears to have regressed somewhat under the Dutchman’s care – at least as far as goal contributions are concerned.
The former Benfica hitman registered 31 goal contributions in 54 games (across all competitions) in 2023/24 at a rate of one every 97.61 minutes. That rate has fallen significantly in the 2024/25 season to one goal contribution every 176.33 minutes (from three goals and three assists).
A tweak in the team’s playing style has no doubt contributed to Nunez’s struggles, with Liverpool increasingly steering clear of the chaos that previously enabled the No.9 to thrive in the forward line.
Jermaine Pennant thinks Liverpool should sell Darwin Nunez
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)It raises questions, perhaps, over how the club should now handle the situation – a far from easy conundrum given we forked out an initial £64m for the striker’s services. At the end of the season, there will still be three years remaining on the six-year deal he first signed back in 2022.
Jermaine Pennant’s mind is already made up; the 41-year-old believes Liverpool would be best advised to cut their losses and sell at the next available opportunity.
“I think Liverpool should cut their losses with Darwin Nunez,” the former Red told Casino Apps (via Metro).
“He cost so much money and is up there with one of Liverpool’s highest-paid players.
“He’s just not giving Liverpool what they paid for – yes, he works his socks off and the fans love him, bringing something different to the team, but ultimately you want goals.
“Especially for that price tag, you expect returns to justify that fee, I think after this season – which is his third – we’re not going to see any improvement in the fourth or fifth.
“This is it now, this is the final product of Darwin Nunez. No disrespect to him, but he’s not on the level as a player that Liverpool are as a team.
“Liverpool has had some great number nines in the past, and Nunez falls short of them. I think it’d be wise to offload him somewhere in Europe and invest the money they get for him elsewhere.”
Give Nunez at least until the end of the season
It’s hard to back Nunez completely to the hilt given that the likes of Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Mo Salah appear to be thriving in Arne Slot’s system.
Pennant’s case was certainly strengthened by our Portuguese international registering an important equaliser in our 2-2 draw with Fulham at the weekend.
However, it shouldn’t go unnoticed that it was our Uruguayan hitman who provided the all-important assist.
In our view, we still want to see Darwin Nunez given every bit of backing until the end of the season – at least – and then an evaluation should be made as to his long-term value in the Slot era.
We know he’s capable of the spectacular, we know there’s a truly quality player in there. It’s just a question of whether or not our new head coach can inspire some consistency in his goalscoring exploits beyond a tremendous work rate on the pitch.
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