There is an obvious solution for Darwin Nunez at Liverpool and Michael Edwards and Arne Slot will know it.
Almost two years on, Darwin Nunez’s time at Liverpool hasn’t really reaped the rewards many expected it to reap.
Nunez arrived as an exciting forward, who was promised to become the prolific number nine Liverpool have sought out for years.
But in the two years since, he hasn’t delivered on that promise. This season he has scored merely 11 goals in the Premier League for the Reds.
What Arne Slot will be thinking about Darwin Nunez
Arne Slot will back himself to do what Jurgen Klopp could not. The Dutchman plays an exciting brand of attacking football, and he has gotten the best out of all the strikers who have played under him.
It was under him that Myron Boadu became a striker coveted by some of Europe’s biggest clubs. He also brought the best out of Rangers forward, Cyriel Dessers, and transformed Santiago Gimenez into one of the best strikers in the Eredivisie.
Slot will have his own ways of bringing the best out of Nunez. His football is geared towards number nines, and that could very well be the key to unlocking Nunez’s full potential at Anfield.
What Michael Edwards will be thinking about Darwin Nunez
There has been some speculation that Edwards may be looking to shift Nunez out of the club this summer.
However, being the data man that he is, that’s unlikely to be the case because Nunez’s underlying numbers are really strong.
For example, he may only have 11 goals in the Premier League, as per Wyscout for xG per 90 minutes out of forwards in the Premier League with at least 2000 minutes, only Erling Haaland (0.91 per 90), Mohamed Salah (0.68 per 90) and Alexander Isak (0.64 per 90) are more productive than Nunez (0.57 per 90).
He is currently underperforming his xG by 0.13 according to the data, but that can be changed. It would be more of a concern for Edwards if Nunez was not getting himself into goal-scoring situations. But the data clearly suggests he is.
So Edwards will simply trust the process and he will know the obvious solution is to keep faith in Nunez for now.