Arne Slot hints Liverpool star doesn’t suit his system as he’s ‘not able’ to get ‘best out of him’

Lewis Oldham
Liverpool boss Arne Slot
Arne Slot during a press conference.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has hinted that Darwin Nunez doesn’t fit into his system amid reports linking him with a shock move to Manchester United.

The Reds paid around an initial fee of around £64m to sign Nunez from Benfica during the 2022 summer transfer window.

Jurgen Klopp ignored data warnings to sign Nunez and this is proving a mistake as the Uraguay international has slipped in the pecking order this season.

Liverpool boss Slot prefers Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota as Nunez has only been used sparingly this season.

It has been suggested that the Premier League leaders could cut their losses on Nunez in a deal which would certainly be one of this window’s most expensive transfers. 

Nunez has been heavily linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League this month, but Man Utd have also been mooted as a potential shock destination as they are keen to sign a new striker. 

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It looks increasingly likely that Nunez will leave Liverpool at some point this year and Slot has hinted that he does not fit into his preferred system.

“Darwin is a striker we have to use in a certain way and we were not able yet to bring the best out of him this season,” Slot said.

“Against Accrington Stanley again you saw he has a lot of pace but, unfortunately for him, most teams sit back a lot against us.

“If you look back at the goals he scored for us, I remember the one against [Aston] Villa when he went around the goalkeeper on a fast break, that is his main strength – he has other qualities as well – but we are still working on getting him in the best possible positions against a low block.

“That involves the right timings, the right crosses, the right position to start from and making the right run.”

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He added: “The way teams defend our No 9 is something you have to give them credit for. It’s never: ‘Here Darwin, you can score.’ Every time we put in a cross I see a defender all over him. I see it, referees unfortunately don’t.

“For us, in general, it’s more difficult to score against a team like Forest because every time we had a chance they had six, seven, eight, nine or 10 players standing in the 18-yard box.

“And the one time [Chris] Wood had a chance he was there almost on his own. We weren’t really close to the ball. They only had one chance, we had 15. But with the 15 we had there was always someone close to the ball or all over one of our players. Darwin will score his goals. He already did and he will again.”