Darwin Núñez / signs for Liverpool

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Sultan

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So sensible United fan Vs totally dopey experienced football coach who watched him over 2 legs in the flesh and seems to want to buy him? Is that where we're taking this?
To be fair, it has been known for professional coaches and scouts to get things wrong. Not saying Nunez is the wrong or right answer. I've hardly ever seen him play.
 

TwoSheds

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Haller has really good feet for his size, he just wasn't mobile enough playing alone in acres of space for a hoofball club like West Ham. Nuñez on the other hand would suit West Ham perfectly, rubbish with the ball but mobile and decent finisher. In other words playing to his strengths is playing Ole/Moyes counter attack ball. Something I, for one, am tired of.
The problem Haller had at West Ham is he had nobody within 20 yards of him. He can't pass 20 yards so he'd take it down and then just lose it. Put players in and around him and he's perfectly capable of laying it off.

Darwin is a far better player than Haller. Great movement and finishing and tenacious in the press. Your idea of him as tripping over his own feet every time he tries to control a football is way off the mark.
 

TwoSheds

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To be fair, it has been known for professional coaches and scouts to get things wrong. Not saying Nunez is the wrong or right answer. I've hardly ever seen him play.
I don't deny it but they're rarely more wrong than a self proclaimed "sensible fan".
 

Tavern in the town

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It doesn’t matter if he’s a donkey. The only thing that matters if his goalscoring translates. 35 goals a season is worth a shite first touch, just like it would’ve been worth it if Lukaku was actually putting the ball in the net.

For what it’s worth, I doubt his goalscoring will translate so I hope we stay away.
 

RedRonaldo

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I just wonder, if we happened to buy both FDJ and Nunez, we might have probably spend all we've got for this summer.
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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Still makes little sense. Replacing Ronaldo isn't as urgent as replacing Mctominay, Fred, Dalot, Maguire and Elanga in the starting 11. It's possible the plan is to move Ronaldo to the left, Nunez center and Sancho on the right but even then we'd be better off getting a right winger instead of Nunez. A front three of Sancho Ronaldo Antony is more effective than Ronaldo Nunez Sancho
 

golden_blunder

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Still makes little sense. Replacing Ronaldo isn't as urgent as replacing Mctominay, Fred, Dalot, Maguire and Elanga in the starting 11. It's possible the plan is to move Ronaldo to the left, Nunez center and Sancho on the right but even then we'd be better off getting a right winger instead of Nunez. A front three of Sancho Ronaldo Antony is more effective than Ronaldo Nunez Sancho
The rumour is Ronaldo doesn’t like playing down the middle
 

Andersons Dietician

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You can bet your house on that Erik wants us to play a high line with interchanging positions and combinations of play between striker, forwards, midfielders and full-backs though. If he dares playing such a high line with De Gea sweeping remains to be seen. We'll face parked buses in 80% of PL games however, where Nuñez will have no space which he has in abundance in Primeira Liga and CL.
Yes he’s a very attacking coach, I’ve heard it said previously that his Ajax were often questionable defensively. However I’ve seen testimonies from others that say the fullbacks operate as either more a CB or stepping in to midfield. Which allows more space for the players ahead to take up positions and rotate. So likely hood is Nunez wouldn’t be tasked with just being the soul focal point and DeGea won’t be tasked with needing to operate as a sweeper.

Nunez sounds similar to Haaland in many ways and if he is willing to work and we can get Sancho up and running and have people find him in dangerous areas. Nunez’z willingness to run inbehind opposition could be the beginning of as fruitful a relationship as Haaland and Sancho had. Haaland not being blessed with a good touch or that great of a link up ability.

Nunez would clearly be a gamble but really not anymore so that Nkuku is or Bruno was.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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The rumour is Ronaldo doesn’t like playing down the middle
I don’t think he’s dynamic enough to play in any other position than CF anymore. His finishing and his mentality are by far his greatest strengths now and this year we’ve seen his control, dribbling ability and passing have all greatly diminished while pressing is virtually non-existent.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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Yes he’s a very attacking coach, I’ve heard it said previously that his Ajax were often questionable defensively.
Don’t think this is true at all. Ajax have had an amazing defence in recent times. They conceded less than half the goals PSV did last season (19 v 42).
 

welshwingwizard

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If those are the highlight’s that should make him look an awful striker, Im a bit baffled.
All I got from it is a guy currently enjoying his club form.
Yeh he's young and I suspect will become more clinical. The press and work rate is key. From memory when Suarez joined Liverpool he missed lots of chances and looked really clumsy but still managed to get the luck of the ball. Then he became more accurate and suddenly at Barca he was lethal.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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Yeh he's young and I suspect will become more clinical. The press and work rate is key. From memory when Suarez joined Liverpool he missed lots of chances and looked really clumsy but still managed to get the luck of the ball. Then he became more accurate and suddenly at Barca he was lethal.
Suarez was technically excellent and a very strong dribbler. I’m not too familiar with Darwin but in understand those facets of his game are weaknesses.
 

golden_blunder

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I don’t think he’s dynamic enough to play in any other position than CF anymore. His finishing and his mentality are by far his greatest strengths now and this year we’ve seen his control, dribbling ability and passing have all greatly diminished while pressing is virtually non-existent.
Im not set in stone on it. Nunez can play left as well so they can mix it up
 

DutchSerb

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Yes he’s a very attacking coach, I’ve heard it said previously that his Ajax were often questionable defensively.
Towards the end of last season they had a bit of a bad streak, which wasn't that strange because the club was going through a tough phase. Overmars forced to leave, Ten Hag in United talks, multiple players already making it known they would not return. Before that though, they had 5 goals against in 22(!) Eredivisie games.
 

Drizzle

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I understand people's worries about how he'll do against deeper massed defences where sharpness of touch in tight spaces becomes more important.

But consider this - do we want to only have one way of breaking defences down? Sometimes a physical hustling forward making constant darting runs can occupy defenders and open gaps for others. Or he can bundle in a cross ahead of his marker. Or score a header. Tippy tappy isn't always the way. That's why City bought Haaland - sometimes you need other ways.

And that's not even taking into account how useful he'd be when we are forced deep and need to retain a threat on the counter.
 

Gurtej

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What are the options we have for a striker given all WC strikers are out of our reach!!

Given our eye for talent is so bad, I doubt we will go for anyone who is unproven but potential like Halland or Kane etc
 

roonster09

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Even Lukaku wouldn't get near to having that many terrible touches during one season. :lol:
Most players will, only thing missing is someone having patience to go through match highlights to compile them into single video.

Nunez averages around 2 unsuccessful touches, players like Salah, Son, Kane, Mane averages 2.8, 2.1, 2.6, 3.1 unsuccessful touches per game and these are just from top 10 rated players in PL as per whoscored.com
 

sullydnl

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I’m pretty sure you could do an overrated 2 minute clip on almost every player including KDB if you really wanted to go to that effort
And you could do a highlights clip of Lukaku that makes him look technically profficient as well. That's the nature of these youtube packages.

The key point regarding Nunez' technique is that most of the people who actually watch him regularly say it's somewhere between poor and average. So we should probably accept that's the case rather than trying to argue about it based on highlights packages or smaller sample sizes of games we happen to have caught.

It doesn't mean he wouldn't be a good signing in the right set-up. Lukaku himself has been successful at other clubs and that's without having the sort of defensive workrate Nunez does. But watching people try to downplay Nunez' technical flaws comes across as them trying to sell themselves on a player we've been linked to.
 

youmeletsfly

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I've said it a few months ago. Each time I watched him he looked so so rough on the ball.
In terms of ability with the ball, he's Wan Bissaka level of bad.

We should stay away and I think we will stay away. He's not the type of striker ETH wants and usually uses anyway.
 

mctrials23

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That poor touches reel is another level. I have watched a fair few of these "lowlights" videos but some of that was a player who has an utterly junk first touch. Genuinely makes Lukaku look top tier. With the lack of time and space he would get in the PL he would suffer. Not even if he was 1/2 the price quoted.
 
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