Darwin Núñez / signs for Liverpool

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NoPace

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I saw a scouting video today with an extended segment on his link up play and it was genuinely horrible.

He’ll terrify defenses when running at them, especially when attacking into space, but terrify his teammates when playing with his back to goal or dropping into midfield.
This was my read after a couple of games, which admittedly isn't enough to judge. Seems like a good signing for the Bundesliga or maybe Atletico?

On the other hand, he's 22 and his technique might improve. Certainly he has the raw physical tools and he plays very hard.
 

DWelbz19

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Also noted the below, which suggests he might offer quite a bit in terms of a pressing game.

Could David be an option? He’s put up decent but not spectacular goalscoring numbers at both Lille and Gent, but from this chart it’s clear he adds a lot more than goals.
 

Highfather_24

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Could David be an option? He’s put up decent but not spectacular goalscoring numbers at both Lille and Gent, but from this chart it’s clear he adds a lot more than goals.
Nah. Saw him a few times, didnt really impress that much. He's good, but we need someone better.
 

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Certainly wouldn’t be against signing this guy even though don’t know to much about him but he seems quite highly rated. I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway because if any deal hinges on us getting CL then it’s not happening.
 

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I'll admit I haven't watched him but does a center forward need the cleanest technique, I don't think Suarez or Haaland are so clean technically they Mai up do it with endeavor and good movement, if he has that I wouldn't mind.
 

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I'll admit I haven't watched him but does a center forward need the cleanest technique, I don't think Suarez or Haaland are so clean technically they Mai up do it with endeavor and good movement, if he has that I wouldn't mind.
If we're going to be a possession based team that controls the ball, press the opposition and operate in tight area - We need to have a CF with good control of the ball
 

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Don't want to sound harsh, but that OP goal compilation of his is one of the worst I've ever seen. The biggest takeway from it is highlighting a really, really poor standard of defending and positioning. Even the player it is supposed to be highlighting looks average.

Usually a composition on Youtube can make a player look special, perhaps quite a bit better than he actually is, so the biggest question this vid draws from me is: if those are his best bits, how bad are his worst? Also: what is his average level of performance if this is the best they could do with a 'best of' video?
 

troylocker

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With Haaland not coming, signing Nunez would make a lot of sence. Great potential and great workrate.
 

antohan

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Don't want to sound harsh, but that OP goal compilation of his is one of the worst I've ever seen. The biggest takeway from it is highlighting a really, really poor standard of defending and positioning. Even the player it is supposed to be highlighting looks average.

Usually a composition on Youtube can make a player look special, perhaps quite a bit better than he actually is, so the biggest question this vid draws from me is: if those are his best bits, how bad are his worst? Also: what is his average level of performance if this is the best they could do with a 'best of' video?
Sounds about right. I keep reading cafites raving about him but for some reason don't have the time to watch Benfica every week.

I was looking forward to his starts for Uruguay and, frankly, meh. Great energy and workrate, better fit to Suárez than Cavani is these days (making up for both not being what they used to be on that front) but while I used to be confident one of Suarez-Cavani would score, I haven't seen anything that makes me expect that from him.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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I'll admit I haven't watched him but does a center forward need the cleanest technique, I don't think Suarez or Haaland are so clean technically they Mai up do it with endeavor and good movement, if he has that I wouldn't mind.
I think Suarez is very technical, superb ball control, skillful dribbler and he can hit the ball cleanly in front of the goal.

i hate the fecker, but he is a baller.
 

Trex

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If we're going to be a possession based team that controls the ball, press the opposition and operate in tight area - We need to have a CF with good control of the ball
Am not so sure a lot of teams who play possession football have their center forward doing most of their work off the ball, constant movement off the ball to stretch defences to create spaces for the midfielders, and then pressing hard when the team is out of possession, they build play mainly in wider areas using triangles between fullback, winger and midfielder so they don't require a lot of hold up or link up play from the number 9 as they hardly take the direct route.
 

Trex

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I think Suarez is very technical, superb ball control, skillful dribbler and he can hit the ball cleanly in front of the goal.

i hate the fecker, but he is a baller.
His first touch isn't the cleanest, he is strong at protecting the ball though he is no Benzema on the ball, its his tenacity, movement and finishing that stands out.
 

Fortitude

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Sounds about right. I keep reading cafites raving about him but for some reason don't have the time to watch Benfica every week.

I was looking forward to his starts for Uruguay and, frankly, meh. Great energy and workrate, better fit to Suárez than Cavani is these days (making up for both not being what they used to be on that front) but while I used to be confident one of Suarez-Cavani would score, I haven't seen anything that makes me expect that from him.
Any buzz around him in terms of upward trajectory? Your bolded, yes, he looks run-of-the-mill (from the tiny piece of cobbled together footage I've seen). If he's always like that, it's some come down from the calibre of forwards your NT is accustomed to this past decade!
 

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This was my read after a couple of games, which admittedly isn't enough to judge. Seems like a good signing for the Bundesliga or maybe Atletico?

On the other hand, he's 22 and his technique might improve. Certainly he has the raw physical tools and he plays very hard.
Agree completely.He has an intriguing set of skills and certainly could improve in other ways.

For Arsenal I’d be a bit wary of expecting him to just step into the side given how we play. It could be a Lukaku at Chelsea situation where he’s just playing a different game than the rest of the side.
 

antohan

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Any buzz around him in terms of upward trajectory? Your bolded, yes, he looks run-of-the-mill (from the tiny piece of cobbled together footage I've seen). If he's always like that, it's some come down from the calibre of forwards your NT is accustomed to this past decade!
The buzz is from people hearing ge scores, did well, etc. Zero buzz as far as him being the next big thing.

We basically have a Suárez-like finisher and pocket tank in Maxi Gómez (but without the dribbling and drive) and a Cavani-like high-intensity and selfless forward in Nuñez (but without the finishing technique and killer instinct).

Shame as we finally do have a world class midfielder in Valverde.
 

Mainoldo

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I would give my left bollock for him to turn out to be a pressing version of a 100m striker.
You like watching football or Rugby. That £100m striker couldn't control for shite and was big for nothing.

I would give my two balls to stay well away from them. Bring me the new Benzema any day of the week.
 

antohan

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You like watching football or Rugby. That £100m striker couldn't control for shite and was big for nothing.

I would give my two balls to stay well away from them. Bring me the new Benzema any day of the week.
Lukaku has 68 goals in 101 internationals, I'll take that. It has taken Suárez 133 caps to score as many. Núñez will get nowhere near the caps or the goals.
 

V.O.

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Lukaku has 68 goals in 101 internationals, I'll take that. It has taken Suárez 133 caps to score as many. Núñez will get nowhere near the caps or the goals.
Suarez would have had 100 goals playing in UEFA with De Bruyne and Hazard behind him.
 

Mainoldo

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Lukaku has 68 goals in 101 internationals, I'll take that. It has taken Suárez 133 caps to score as many. Núñez will get nowhere near the caps or the goals.
We had that. We didn’t like it and sold him.
 

antohan

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We had that. We didn’t like it and sold him.
I'm talking about having a pressing Lukaku instead of Darwin Nuñez in my Uruguay NT.

No way I'm sacrificing a bollock to have Lukaku back, although I may reconsider come August :lol:
 

NoPace

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The buzz is from people hearing ge scores, did well, etc. Zero buzz as far as him being the next big thing.

We basically have a Suárez-like finisher and pocket tank in Maxi Gómez (but without the dribbling and drive) and a Cavani-like high-intensity and selfless forward in Nuñez (but without the finishing technique and killer instinct).

Shame as we finally do have a world class midfielder in Valverde.
Is there talk in Uruguay of trying to build a different sort of squad, maybe hiring a Spaniard even, with your talent in midfield?

I'm gonna end up money betting on Uruguay to make the knockouts and go deep at least once in tournaments the next decade with your bigger name midfielders than the last generation. Gargano and Perez and those CMs were tough to get excited about on paper.
 

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Don't want to sound harsh, but that OP goal compilation of his is one of the worst I've ever seen. The biggest takeway from it is highlighting a really, really poor standard of defending and positioning. Even the player it is supposed to be highlighting looks average.

Usually a composition on Youtube can make a player look special, perhaps quite a bit better than he actually is, so the biggest question this vid draws from me is: if those are his best bits, how bad are his worst? Also: what is his average level of performance if this is the best they could do with a 'best of' video?
Have to say he is rated far higher here by many posters than he was on North Stand Chat, when Brighton were looking at him 18 months 2 years ago, I haven't watched him alot but I'm not sure he has developed that much.
 

antohan

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Is there talk in Uruguay of trying to build a different sort of squad, maybe hiring a Spaniard even, with your talent in midfield?

I'm gonna end up money betting on Uruguay to make the knockouts and go deep at least once in tournaments the next decade with your bigger name midfielders than the last generation. Gargano and Perez and those CMs were tough to get excited about on paper.
Not really and I very much doubt anyone will try go tiki taka just because we suddenly have a rare batch of good midfielders instead of defenders and strikers.

The one thing Tabárez was spot on about was recognising that our pool is limited (usually have a single world class player, not three or four) and the grassroots have and will continue to have no structure so the technically accomplished players will still be few and far between.

At the time Barca and Spain were all the rage and the future of football, he was adamant going tiki taka or possession-based would mean adding constraints to an already limited pool. You are doomed to fall short, someone else will do it better with better starters and, particularly, like for like bench replacements.

He actually aligned all the tiers from before U17 to NT to a philosophy based around our traditional strengths (counter-attacking 4-4-2/4-3-3, workrate, resilience, solidarity, etc), those we can expect to allow us to make the best possible use of a limited talent pool. He was absolutely right.

Where Tabárez failed and Alonso is doing well was factoring in pressing high up as a necessary ingredient and one most of our pool will have been drilled on by now at their respective clubs. That's something you can and should expect players to embrace and it's working. On Tuesday we were 1-0 up away to Chile and still going at them and choking their build up. Once we get it though, no tiki taka bollocks. Thank god, I hate it anyway :D
 

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If we are going to be a possession type team then I don't know if he fits that. Then again, there seem to be very few options out there.
 

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He gives me Cavani vibes. The stats show he has a lot of pressures, more and more forwards are turning into 'first defenders' which is just as important for modern pressing sides.

Being able to finish is important but I suppose if you're getting a high level of xG through good pressing, scoring shouldn't be so much of an issue.

I can see why we'd be interested in him. I think City and Chelsea have shown that you don't need a 30 goal a season CF in the modern game, as long as you all work hard and have goals through the team.
 

jackal&hyde

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He gives me Cavani vibes. The stats show he has a lot of pressures, more and more forwards are turning into 'first defenders' which is just as important for modern pressing sides.

Being able to finish is important but I suppose if you're getting a high level of xG through good pressing, scoring shouldn't be so much of an issue.

I can see why we'd be interested in him. I think City and Chelsea have shown that you don't need a 30 goal a season CF in the modern game, as long as you all work hard and have goals through the team.
That is the key point. Where do our goals come from? Ronaldo might leave, Cavani and Greenwood too, Pogba out, Rashford is terrible for whatever reason. Only Bruno seems to do the job consistently. We don't have the 25+ a season goal scorers out wide to afford a risk in CF.
 

antohan

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He gives me Cavani vibes. The stats show he has a lot of pressures, more and more forwards are turning into 'first defenders' which is just as important for modern pressing sides.

Being able to finish is important but I suppose if you're getting a high level of xG through good pressing, scoring shouldn't be so much of an issue.

I can see why we'd be interested in him. I think City and Chelsea have shown that you don't need a 30 goal a season CF in the modern game, as long as you all work hard and have goals through the team.
I swear we have been here before with the "dribbling widemen that aren't really centreforwards but play as such".

Scoring shouldn't be that much of an issue... it's the actual job mate. Yeah, Benzema does all this build up yadda yadda, but he is still a cracking finisher.

Cavani vibes? He runs a lot? The most distinctive thing with Cavani isn't his movement as in "runs around a lot" but as in "has the killer instinct, which feeds his exceptional anticipation of opportunities which in turn guides his movement to find himself regularly in goalscoring situations, more so than others, so can miss more than others". The latter describes Cavani, not Núñez' vibes.
 

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That is the key point. Where do our goals come from? Ronaldo might leave, Cavani and Greenwood too, Pogba out, Rashford is terrible for whatever reason. Only Bruno seems to do the job consistently. We don't have the 25+ a season goal scorers out wide to afford a risk in CF.
Well you'd hope eventually with some decent coaching and a bit of confidence we can get way more goals out out of the likes of Sancho/Rashford/Elanga. Mctominay has shown he's capable of scoring a good number from midfield, Fred too if he's played a bit closer to goal.

I really do think most of our players are capable of chipping in, but it's being able to work proper goal scoring chances we've struggled with. Our shots/xG is always quite low since Ole's peak.
I swear we have been here before with the "dribbling widemen that aren't really centreforwards but play as such".

Scoring shouldn't be that much of an issue... it's the actual job mate. Yeah, Benzema does all this build up yadda yadda, but he is still a cracking finisher.

Cavani vibes? He runs a lot? The most distinctive thing with Cavani isn't his movement as in "runs around a lot" but as in "has the killer instinct, which feeds his exceptional anticipation of opportunities which in turn guides his movement to find himself regularly in goalscoring situations, more so than others, so can miss more than others". The latter describes Cavani, not Núñez' vibes.
Cavani vibes in the sense he presses a lot from the front and is decent in the air yes. Obviously they aren't identical, but I can see why we might aim to look for the younger version of the Cavani we have now.
 

jackal&hyde

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Well you'd hope eventually with some decent coaching and a bit of confidence we can get way more goals out out of the likes of Sancho/Rashford/Elanga. Mctominay has shown he's capable of scoring a good number from midfield, Fred too if he's played a bit closer to goal.

I really do think most of our players are capable of chipping in, but it's being able to work proper goal scoring chances we've struggled with. Our shots/xG is always quite low since Ole's peak.

Cavani vibes in the sense he presses a lot from the front and is decent in the air yes. Obviously they aren't identical, but I can see why we might aim to look for the younger version of the Cavani we have now.
I remember Ole talking about goal scorers and the same with RR now. Even when we create we have issues converting. I don't think coaching of any kind changes that. We had Rashford, Martial and Greenwood looking good in this department under Ole for a season but then they stopped and became just as inconsistent as they were before. Top attackers tend to know how to be at the right place at the right time and our player do not IMO, regardless of manager. City might be the odd one out but most teams have reliable scorers, from Salah to Lewandowski.

I was against it for the last couple of years but now, with the way our squad is shaping up and what I've seen, I believe we will desperately need a proven striker to make the 25+ goals a season. If we want at least top 4 that is.
 

NoPace

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Not really and I very much doubt anyone will try go tiki taka just because we suddenly have a rare batch of good midfielders instead of defenders and strikers.

The one thing Tabárez was spot on about was recognising that our pool is limited (usually have a single world class player, not three or four) and the grassroots have and will continue to have no structure so the technically accomplished players will still be few and far between.

At the time Barca and Spain were all the rage and the future of football, he was adamant going tiki taka or possession-based would mean adding constraints to an already limited pool. You are doomed to fall short, someone else will do it better with better starters and, particularly, like for like bench replacements.

He actually aligned all the tiers from before U17 to NT to a philosophy based around our traditional strengths (counter-attacking 4-4-2/4-3-3, workrate, resilience, solidarity, etc), those we can expect to allow us to make the best possible use of a limited talent pool. He was absolutely right.

Where Tabárez failed and Alonso is doing well was factoring in pressing high up as a necessary ingredient and one most of our pool will have been drilled on by now at their respective clubs. That's something you can and should expect players to embrace and it's working. On Tuesday we were 1-0 up away to Chile and still going at them and choking their build up. Once we get it though, no tiki taka bollocks. Thank god, I hate it anyway :D
Yeah, I don't mean tiki-taka (I would have said German or Italian manager but they don't always speak Spanish), you obviously don't have the squad for it, but good to hear you're pressing higher.
 

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Came in on start of the second half in the 3-2 lose against Braga and scored a penalty and assisted the second goal.
 

NoPace

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Could David be an option? He’s put up decent but not spectacular goalscoring numbers at both Lille and Gent, but from this chart it’s clear he adds a lot more than goals.
As a Canadian who watches him for the NT, he's not electrifying with the ball like Davies but he works hard, links play very well and has great poaching qualities. Might be best in a 2 up front system or for a team like City or even Arsenal who want their 9 to link play and defend and then get into the box to finish off moves. 4 good seasons as a pro at age 22 in 2 leagues is a damn fine start and he seems like the kind of low ego hard worker we don't have enough of.
 

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Nice headed down assist for the equaliser.

Certainly seems a handful in the box, but the match against Liverpool will be more of a better way to judge.
 

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Fergie, fergie, sign him up...

The goal was a gift, but his general play is very good IMO.
 
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