Liverpool swallowed their pride during the 2024 summer transfer window and held off from any knee-jerk reactions.
After nine high-octane, stop-for-nothing years at the helm, Jurgen Klopp had had enough and was replaced by Arne Slot, who only welcomed Federico Chiesa to the first team, signed for just £12.5m and used sparingly, yet to even start in the Premier League.
Liverpool are ahead of schedule and then some, and if Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes can get it right in the market this summer, the Reds could be set for an entertaining series of years.
The frontline does need more balance, lessening Mohamed Salah‘s load. Darwin Nunez certainly isn’t living up to his price tag and offering the expected prolific support.
Darwin Nunez’s regression under Arne Slot
Nunez has scored four Premier League goals this season. He has missed four big chances. Good, right?
After all, Erling Haaland has missed as many big chances as he’s put away in 2024/25. The difference is he has 20 goals for struggling Manchester City.
This is a stark difference on Nunez’s own barometer. He missed far more big chances across his opening two seasons in the Premier League – 47 were squandered to be specific, only 19 goals scored – though his overall threat and impact was greater too. What’s changed?
Well, forget about the goalscoring metrics for a moment and take a look at Nunez’s underlying data.
|
Darwin Nunez – Select Stats in the Premier League |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Stats (per 90) |
22/23 |
23/24 |
24/25 |
|
Shots total |
4.46 |
4.70 |
2.59 |
|
Shot-creating actions |
2.87 |
3.47 |
2.09 |
|
Touches |
33.61 |
34.16 |
28.51 |
|
Touches (att pen) |
8.18 |
8.44 |
5.48 |
|
Progressive carries |
3.24 |
2.55 |
1.89 |
|
Ball recoveries |
2.34 |
2.46 |
3.19 |
|
Tackles + interceptions |
0.74 |
1.10 |
1.89 |
|
Stats via FBref |
|||
Is it any surprise FSG and Slot are ready to sell Liverpool’s club-record man and move for, as TEAMtalk report, Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak?
Nunez wants to succeed, but is playing like a striker who knows their days are numbered. As the club has shown, they will cash in when they know a talent has reached the end of their road, especially when suitors such as Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr have shown a willingness to pay the big bucks, £70m in the winter window.
After all, they did so with another promising star last summer, and it proved to be an excellent piece of business.
Liverpool hit the jackpot selling Jurgen Klopp signing
Liverpool don’t enjoy the same gripping and thick-plot transfer windows of some of their Premier League rivals, but then they leave their most exciting times for the field.
However, FSG aren’t averse to transfer activity, and while incoming activity was almost negligible last year, the Reds did hit the jackpot with one under-the-radar sale.
Indeed, Fabio Carvalho has long been regarded as a top talent on Merseyside but hasn’t exactly hit the ground running at Brentford this year.
Klopp, to whom Carvalho is an “unbelievable” young forward, signed the then-19-year-old from Fulham for a sharp £5m fee in 2022.
Though the silky attacking midfielder enjoyed a fast start to life at Anfield, notably being compared to Philippe Coutinho, he petered out and was scarcely used across the latter half of the 2022/23 campaign.
A mixed bag on the loan front followed, and while the 22-year-old enjoyed a promising pre-season with Slot’s first team over the pond, when Brentford offered £27.5m for his services last August, cashing in was a no-brainer.
Given that equates to about 450% profit for a player who has failed to nail down a starting berth in Thomas Frank’s squad, Liverpool will hardly rue their decision.
He’s played 19 times, starting three games and scoring twice. That, of course, means Nunez is outscoring him this season, and given the flak the Uruguayan has received, it shows Carvalho’s fortunes haven’t been as he would have hoped in west London.
His quality isn’t up for debate. See the attacking midfielder’s wonder goal for Hull City on loan in the Championship last term (he scored nine goals and added two assists across 20 games).
However, the Portugal-born talent still hasn’t been able to bring it all together at the highest level.
That £27.5m figure is starting to look like an absolute steal.
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