Liverpool has completed the signing of Darwin Nunez.
The Reds secured the signature of the Uruguayan striker for a club record fee of £85 million. That fee eclipses the £75 million that Jürgen Klopp’s men paid for Virgil van Dijk back in 2018. They broke the fee paid for the former Almeria striker up into £64 million upfront and £21 million in performance-based add-ons.
Liverpool unveiled Darwin Nunez today and has driven fans of the Merseyside club into raptures with some of his comments.
This is what he said to the club’s official website about the prospect of adding to the trophy haul at Anfield:
“Yes, of course. When I arrived at the training ground, I was really surprised to see the set-up and the structure and all the trophies here. You can then imagine yourself winning more trophies and then later on when you come here again and see the trophies on display, you can say, ‘Look, I was a part of that, I was there at that time, winning trophies.’
That’s one of the reasons why I came here to Liverpool – to win trophies and titles. I want to win a lot of trophies at Liverpool.”
This is music to the ears of Liverpool fans. They have won both the Premier League and Champions League in recent years. Liverpool did the domestic cup double last year and narrowly missed out on the big two prizes.
The signing of Erling Haaland at Manchester City had thrown the gauntlet down for the Liverpool recruitment team. They have responded to this piece of business. Experts suggest that whichever of these two settles into the English top flight the best will go a long way to determining the destination of the title next season.
DARWIN NUNEZ vs ERLING HAALAND BY THE NUMBERS
The two world-class strikers are landing at the best two clubs in the world at the moment. Let’s look at each player’s performance in front of the goal from the last campaign. It might just help us determine who may have a bigger impact in the 22/23 EPL season.
Of course, there are variables that can’t be calculated. The two played in different leagues, for starters. They are also not like for like players. Haaland is more of a traditional number nine. The Norwegian rarely strays from the number nine position.
Nunez is a little more flexible. He can play out wide, behind the main striker and as the focal point of the attack.
After crunching the numbers, it appears Nunez was slightly more effective in the league last season. The Uruguayan scored 26 goals in 28 league appearances last season. That is a goals per game (GPG) average of 0.928. Simply incredible. Across all competitions last year Nunez scored 34 goals in 41 appearances, at a GPG of 0.829. If he can achieve that ratio next season at Anfield, the Reds will certainly add to their trophy haul next season.
Although Haaland lost the league shootout last season, his numbers are still out of this world. He scored 22 goals in 24 matches, giving him 0.916 GPG in the Bundesliga last year. A tremendous return. Across all competitions last season, he has his Uruguayan rival.
Haaland appeared in fewer matches because of injury last season, but scored an incredible 29 goals in 30 matches. A huge GPG of 0.966. If the Norwegian goal machine gets anywhere near these numbers, Manchester City will have yet another trophy laden season.
WHO WILL HAVE MORE IMPACT?
On top of both players’ incredible GPG average, it is interesting to note that Haaland pips Nunez in terms of assists. Despite Nunez being a little more flexible positionally. Haaland laid on eight goals for his teammates, whereas Darwin Nunez assisted four goals at Benfica.
It is impossible to predict who will have a bigger impact, even with my world-famous crystal ball.
However, despite being a Liverpool fan, I am leaning toward Erling Haaland. He has scored bucket loads of goals no matter where he has played or who the opposition is.
Jeez, I hope I am wrong.
Stuart Kavanagh is a sports journalist from Melbourne, Australia. Along with being the owner of the sports and entertainment website thepyrrhic.com, he is the co-host of the ‘After Extra Time’ podcast. Football mad, he is always down for debate and discussion at @stueyissickofit on Twitter.