How the hell is Darwin Nunez a €100m footballer?
FT Desk
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
- 3 min read
Despite scoring away to table-toppers Arsenal, Darwin Nunez was demoted to the bench for Liverpool's impressive 1-0 victory over Manchester City at Anfield in arguably the best game of the season.
Mohamed Salah's second-half strike was enough to seal all three points for Jurgen Klopp's men, who moved up to eighth place with the victory over Pep Guardiola's side.
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While Nunez was turned to late in the game, it was clear that Liverpool had a vast upturn in performance with the former Benfica man on the bench.
Salah was pushed infield and closer to goal, Roberto Firmino was his usual busy self, while Diogo Jota and Harvey Elliott provided the width on either flank.
It was a system that worked, and it was one without Nunez included. Upon his introduction to the game, Nunez certainly made things happen, but his bundling style of play, which often lacks technique, stunted things for the Reds.
His guilt-edged decision to cut inside and shoot when Liverpool had a 3vs1 scenario in the latter stages could've come back to haunt the home side had Man City been able to find a late equaliser.
Even so, his inability to get his head up and pick up a pass to Salah, who was in acres of space across the pitch, is inexcusable, and he's fortunate that his fellow forward was able to convert earlier on.
Nunez may have taken three shots in his brief stint on the pitch, the joint-most of any player, but none hit the target and highlighted his tendency to shoot from any angle without consideration that a pass may be a better option.
Furthermore, he missed a guilt-edged chance when played one-on-one against Ederson, chipping the ball over the 'keeper with minimal contact before falling over and seeing his effort easily intercepted by Nathan Ake.
The 23-year-old has been given the benefit of the doubt by many, with emphasis placed on an adaption phase moving to the Premier League, but he's so far scored just two league goals from an xG of 3.83, according to Understat.
And his lack of cutting edge in the final third was highlighted by his inability to punish Joao Cancelo's mistake in the final few moments at Anfield and his failed attempt to put the game to bed.
What is Darwin Nunez's transfer value?
Furthermore, the forward was valued just €25.9m when he made the switch from Portugal to England to join Liverpool.
FootballTransfers' algorithm uses a Machine Learning model that estimates the transfer fee value for a player, and uses information on the player’s Skill, Potential, performance, contract duration, position and other statistics to estimate an accurate transfer fee.
