Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, made fun of those Darwin Nunez’s detractors who mocked the Uruguayan during preseason.
The £85 million acquisition had an undoubtedly lackluster preseason debut, blowing several excellent opportunities as the Reds lost to Manchester United 4-0, a result that some rival fans celebrated online.
Nunez is now being hailed as a revelation after his impressive performances in the Community Shield and Premier League, and Klopp noted that the 23-year-early old’s detractors have gone suspiciously quiet recently.
“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.
“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!”
