Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has spoken about the change from Darwin Nunez this season and the continued impact of Alexis Mac Allister
Jurgen Klopp has praised Darwin Nunez for overcoming the difficult start to his Liverpool career and comparisons with Erling Haaland – while revealing how Alexis Mac Allister has left his coaching staff gobsmacked.
Nunez opened the scoring in Thursday’s 3-1 top-flight win over Sheffield United with his 18th strike of the season, with no other Premier League player having had more goal contributions in 2024.
The 24-year-old has long surpassed his total of 15 goals during his debut campaign having arrived for a potential club record £85million from Benfica in June 2022.
Nunez saw the start of his time at Anfield hampered by a red card on his home debut while having to contend with being continually compared to Haaland, who moved to City in the same summer and scored 52 goals in 53 games last term.
But the Uruguayan has now become an integral part of the Liverpool squad chasing a trophy treble, and Reds boss Klopp said: “Darwin of course had his problems in the beginning.
“Didn’t speak a word of English, you are a high-profile signing and don’t hit the target immediately – for us, yes (he did) but for the outside world, the other big signing that year, Erling Haaland, scored 500 goals and all these kind of things. It’s difficult. You don’t want to pay attention to it but it’s a public world, you get aware of it.
“How he went through that is so special. It’s happened to so many boys but for different reasons. Wataru Endo, a lifelong dream got fulfilled for him. A late bloomer in Japan, a late bloomer in Germany and then arriving at Liverpool turning 31 in his first year and nobody thinks about (his) age at a club where age is for signings pretty much the most important factor. It’s so good.
“We were lucky with our selection. We were good in judgement of players and lucky with character because you never know 100%. It’s a good group, definitely.”
Endo was one of four midfielders Liverpool signed last summer, along with Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister. And Klopp has highlighted the continued impact of the latter, with Mac Allister’s blistering strike against Sheffield United a 10th goal contribution in his last 10 games.
“How can you not love a player or boy like him?” said Klopp. “He is incredible. He is educated in the best possible way, full of life, confident, funny, smart and an incredible footballer. Oh my God. You watch training sessions and the coaches look at each other and go ‘wow, what was that?!’.
“How he interacts with the other boys, how he took the South American outfield players under his wing naturally without telling them what to do, it’s just how they came together.
“I loved it from the first moment we met before we signed him. I met his dad, and the football understanding in his family is second to none. His dad a former professional, uncle a former professional, brother is a professional, cousin is a professional. They all eat and breathe football and that’s so good.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Klopp also addressed teasing from some Liverpool players that Mac Allister is one of his favourites in the squad. “Of course I love him,” said the Reds boss. “I don’t know where the boys get it from where they call him the manager’s pet or favourite, because I have a lot of them, but he is definitely one of them. They are all so likeable for different reasons. It’s not about being perfect and it never was.”
