Darwin Nunez would have scored 20-plus goals if Liverpool were settled: Jurgen Klopp

LONDON – Jurgen Klopp believes misfiring striker Darwin Nunez would have definitely scored 20-odd goals this season, had his Liverpool side been more settled.

The Uruguayan, who was signed for a club-record £85 million (S$141.6 million) from Benfica in the summer, has had an underwhelming start on Merseyside.

He has scored just nine league goals this campaign and 15 overall in 42 matches. The 23-year-old has found the net just once in his last 11 matches.

Speaking ahead of his side’s Premier League clash against Leicester City on Monday, Klopp said: “He needed time to settle.

“The most difficult thing for a striker is to come in to a team that is not clicking.

“For him to have scored 15 goals anyway, imagine if by our standards a good season with 70 or 80 points, he would have scored 20-odd goals definitely.

“Mo Salah at his best season – 40-odd goals – missed chances. That’s normal. Erling Haaland missed chances...

“They had much more than we created in this period. But 15 goals is still absolutely fine and three games to go, so possibly increase that number as well.

“We spoke about it. He needs time to adapt.”

Meanwhile, Klopp admitted Liverpool’s destiny was not in their own hands as his red-hot team hunt down a top-four finish.

In April, the Reds were in eighth place, 10 points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, but six successive victories have propelled them to fifth, four points behind their fierce rivals.

Klopp was reminded at his pre-match press conference of previous remarkable comebacks, including the overturning of a 3-0 first-leg deficit to beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.

Liverpool also came from a seemingly impossible position in the Premier League in 2021 to qualify for the top four, with goalkeeper Alisson Becker scoring a stoppage-time winner at West Bromwich Albion in one of their games.

Said Klopp: “We were around when miracles happened, that’s true. But it was then, still, in our hands. So we had to score against West Brom and we had to win against Barcelona.

“Now we have to win, but that would not mean that anything changed because the other teams could win all their games – that’s the difference.”

The German manager, whose team came close to winning an unprecedented quadruple last season, said his side’s winning run had set the tone for next season after an inconsistent campaign.

“This period is super important because it gives us all a massive hint on how it could look and we all know we are in the early stages,” he said.

“That’s why it’s so important to have started it early and not to play a season and end up in position 10 or 11... Everyone knows already we are going in the right direction and that’s really helpful.” AFP