The Uruguayan impressed in the Champions League midweek, but still desperately needs to show that he can deliver on a regular basis
Liverpool manager Arne Slot asked Darwin Nunez for a goal ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash with RB Leipzig. The Uruguayan duly obliged, scoring a first-half winner at the Red Bull Arena as the Reds made it 11 victories from 12 games under their new boss.
Was it a great goal? Not at all. Truth be told, the ball was probably already on its way into the net – perhaps via the inside of the post – when Nunez prodded home Mohamed Salah's downward header from less than a metre out.
But if the No.9's intervention was arguably unnecessary, it was unquestionably vital from his perspective. Indeed, his tap-in could prove one of the most important goals of his time at Anfield, the potential catalyst for a revival that might just rescue his Liverpool career.
Getty 'One of the best in the world'?
Nunez is now in his third season at Anfield, and he's yet to prove himself worthy of Liverpool's No.9 shirt. For all his attributes (and the much-maligned Nunez has many), he still stands accused of missing far too many chances and the jury has been out so long at this stage we've entered mistrial territory.
He's demonstrated what he's capable of on several occasions – match-winning contributions at Newcastle and Nottingham Forest last season immediately spring to mind – but we've still not seen quite enough evidence to support Luis Suarez's claim that his compatriot is "one of the best centre-forwards in the world".
"I love how he plays," the Liverpool legend said, "and I love watching him."
AdvertisementGettyMake-or-break season
Nunez is certainly box-office. Just like Suarez, one is never quite sure what he's going to do next. He will do something, though, and it will be entertaining. The issue is that it might not be positive, not from his own team's perspective at least.
Suarez was a similarly erratic character, of course, but he was a far more effective player. Indeed, the difference between the two former international team-mates is that while Suarez's temperament could always be questioned, his talent could not.
At Liverpool, he developed into a goal-scoring machine, a multi-talented forward capable of carrying an attack all on his own. Nunez has not yet come close to following suit – which is why this feels like a make-or-break period in his career.
Sky Sports'Captain Chaos'
Most Liverpool fans love Nunez. 'Captain Chaos' is a cult hero on the Kop. But patience is undeniably starting to wear thin. At Anfield, they always want to win major honours, and there are significant doubts over whether that is possible with Nunez as Liverpool's starting centre-forward. After all, he's only averaged a goal every three games for the Reds – the kind of ratio that the likes of Erling Haaland and Harry Kane would be embarrassed by.
Jurgen Klopp gave Nunez plenty of opportunities to lock down a starting berth, but he squandered them. Consequently, he was relegated to the role of reserve by the end of each of his first two seasons on Merseyside. He started the current campaign on the bench, too.
Getty'Back to uncertainty'
It was claimed during the summer that one of the first things new manager Arne Slot did was call Nunez to assure him that he would have a prominent role to play this season, and those reports made sense. The former Feyenoord coach had worked wonders with Santiago Gimenez, a striker with a similar set of skills, at De Kuip, so the hope was that Slot might be able to emulate Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa by figuring out how to get the best out of Nunez.
However, as Gus Poyet pointed out, Bielsa made it very clear that Nunez was his first-choice forward, whereas Slot put him on the bench.
"At Liverpool, I thought the first year was difficult," the former Uruguay and Chelsea midfielder told GOAL. "The second year, he started very well and I was thinking 'This is it' – but now he is back to uncertainty. I think he needs to make a decision [on his future]."
Just not yet, though.