Liverpool manager Arne Slot has called on Darwin Nunez to join the “five, six or seven” players in the world who are “outstanding” every time they play.
Forward Nunez returned from suspension to net his first goals in eight Premier League games on Saturday, scoring twice during second-half added time as the leaders won 2-0 at Brentford.
“The most difficult thing in football, for a team and an individual, is to find consistency,” said Slot. “Only a few players in the world are able to be at the same level every three days.
“There is a big, big group of players who are able to play well many times, but not every single time. He’s one of the players who belongs to the group that is good many, many, many times.
“But the next step for him – it would be nice – is to go into the bracket of five, six, seven players in the world who are outstanding every three days.
“We have players who are of a very high standard every three days. It’s a nice challenge for him to [join] that group. He is probably in a good place now, because he scored two.”
View this post on Instagram
📰 Table Of Contents
Darwin Nunez stats
The 25-year-old has started in 14 of Slot’s 30 matches in all competitions in the Dutchman’s first season in charge, although the Uruguay international has been on the bench for 11 of the 19 top-flight games he has been available for.
Mohamed Salah has 21 goals this season, with Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz on 12, Diogo Jota on eight and Nunez scoring six.
Alongside defender Joe Gomez, Slot believes Jota will be out for weeks rather than months with a muscular injury, potentially giving Nunez more minutes in his absence.
Liverpool vs Lille
Liverpool host Lille on the penultimate Champions League league phase matchday on Tuesday (8pm GMT), when Nunez will hope to continue his run of featuring in all of their European games so far this season.
The French side have collected notable wins over Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid but are five points behind The Reds, who are the only team with a perfect record from six games.
View this post on Instagram
“They haven’t been lucky with the fixtures and that’s the reason I’m so impressed,” Slot said of opponents sitting third in Ligue 1.
“They faced Sporting [2-0 away defeat] when Ruben Amorim was still [manager] there and Sporting were impossible to beat.
“They have faced Juventus [1-1 home draw], Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and now they’re facing us and then my former club, Feyenoord.”
Champions League: Liverpool lead
Slot cited Paris Saint-Germain’s current position in the elimination places as evidence that finishing high in the new 36-team single-table format may not make the knockout draw favourable.
“You think that number one [in the table] is the best position to end in, but being on top maybe doesn’t tell you that you’re the best team,” he said.
“A lot of it has to do with the teams you’ve faced. We want to win, but not from the idea that it will give us the best [route through] the rest of the campaign.”
