Marcelo Bielsa offers slot transfer tips on ‘amazing’ Darwin Nunez as he names striker’s ‘only weakness’

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been told he can build his Reds’ attack around Darwin Nunez after receiving a glowing assessment of the Uruguay striker from his iconic former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa, but he takes alerted the Reds to the one area of ​​improvement they need to work on. .

Nunez moved to Anfield in a move from Benfica in the summer of 2022, with the now 25-year-old costing Liverpool an initial €75m (£63.5m), but what will amount to a record club fee of €100m (£84.8m) once added. However, despite a record 33 goals in 96 appearances for Merseyside, it hasn’t been plain sailing for the striker.

Indeed, Nunez has been dogged by claims that he is too poor in front of goal, often accused of needing three or four chances before scoring. An instinctive attacker, there are those who believe that if given too much time to decide how to finish a move, more often than not, he will choose the wrong option.

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As a result, speculation over his future at Anfield has intensified in recent weeks, with Nunez adding fuel to the situation by bizarrely deleting all posts from his time at Liverpool from his social media account on Instagram.

At the time, this prompted former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp to launch a staunch defense of both Nunez’s work and his future at Anfield, using one of his final press conferences as boss since Liverpool to insist that everything is fine with the player and that he is expecting. to stay on Merseyside.

However, Slot has since been linked with a number of different striker options this summer amid claims he wants to bring a more prolific No 9 to Anfield.

Liverpool news: Bielsa has great words for Darwin Nunez

To that end, players such as Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez, Napoli danger Victor Osimhen and Sporting Lisbon’s prolific Viktor Gyokeres are among the biggest names to have been linked with a move to Anfield this summer.

However, it’s a different story for Nunez when it comes to playing for his country. His national manager, Bielsa, appears to have revived both the country’s fortunes and the Reds’ No.9 – something Leeds fans will feel good about from his time at Elland Road, having transformed a team that finished 13th place in the previous season in promotion. next competitors.

And Nunez, who has five goals in his last three games for Uruguay, including two already at this year’s Copa America, the nation are well on top of Group C with two wins from two.

Asked now if he is worried about Nunez, a player he previously described as “amazing” who misses more chances than he scores, Bielsa insists both Liverpool and Uruguay have a very good position in his game and he simply believes showing your appreciation to the player is the best way to get him fired.

Furthermore, he indicated that Nunez knows exactly what it means to play for the Reds and has the mentality to succeed at Anfield.

“Darwin is a player who doesn’t need any kind of support,” Bielsa told a news conference.

“You have to know what it’s like to play for Liverpool and who he’s competing against and what his cycles were like, when he converted, when he stopped converting, why he stopped converting. These are things he manages in proportion to his place in the world of football.”

Bielsa only names Nunez’s weakness, while the striker compliments his team-mates

Bielsa suggested, however, that while Nunez can be wasteful in front of goal at times, he is adamant the rewards will come if you keep feeding him chances.

“The only thing that worries me is that he is able to do what he does in an extraordinary way as many times as possible, which is to transform, to define, to complete the actions, to choose where to direct the shot that provides the right conditions to execute- it.

“I insist, it would be a contradiction for me to say that what has value is goals because I say the opposite. What’s the best way to accompany this where he doesn’t need company because he’s proven he can handle it on his own? I try to give him a lot of balls to score goals.”

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Nunez, meanwhile, has been thankful for the advice and help he has been getting from former Liverpool striker and Uruguay team-mate Luis Suarez.

“More than anything, you always need the support of your teammates,” Nunez said. “I think today in the national team we have a nice group, a group that if a player is bad, we know that references like Luis Suarez will come, who is always there, giving advice.

“I always try to meet him, talk about football, about his past. He is always there to give me advice and I take everything as a positive and try to apply it.”

Nunez scored 18 times in all competitions for Liverpool last season from 54 appearances, adding 13 assists, giving him a goal contribution every 1.74 games.