Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has poked fun at critics of new signing Darwin Nunez who ridiculed the Uruguayan during pre-season.
The £85m signing had an undeniably underwhelming first outing in pre-season, fluffing a handful of great opportunities as the Reds fell 4-0 to Manchester United – a result which had some rival fans celebrating online.
Just a few weeks later and Nunez is being heralded as a revelation for his impressive showings in the Community Shield and Premier League, and Klopp pointed out those early critics of the 23-year-old have been suspiciously quiet in recent weeks.
“Five weeks ago, when we started pre-season and he had his first game and it didn’t look great from the outside world,” he told Sky Sports. “Not for us, but it’s crazy how quick we judge people… wow!
“Imagine if somebody did that to us and said, ‘First day of work, it didn’t work out. Go home, we never want to see you again! And you don’t get a second chance by the way’ – we would have all been long gone! No chance.
“Everybody can now see, ‘Ah he’s a proper striker’ – so good for us and good for him. He’s a handful and is a different type to what we had. He’s very lively and very energetic. Physically he’s really strong and technically he’s really good, that obviously goes together with being more settled and confident and more secure in yourself in a new environment.
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“You can’t say, ‘Come on, you have to give me 100% immediately’ – you have to develop it and that’s what we’re doing at the moment and in a good way.”
Klopp also admitted Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has fallen victim to similar treatment.
“It’s funny as well, we won against Manchester City the week before the season and everybody was asking, ‘will Haaland score this and that?’,” Klopp added. “A week is like 10 years in football!”
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