We Need to Talk About Darwin Nunez—Rio Ferdinand

The heavy sum placed on former Benfica striker, Darwin Nunez prior to being signed by Liverpool may prove to be the player’s undoing; which is something he is unfortunately innocent of.

The Uruguayan ever since his arrival at Liverpool under that price tag has seen a lot of pressure placed on him, specifically by critics to perform, and slammed for every single mistake encountered on the pitch. Time and time again, Darwin Nunez keeps giving them the middle finger.

Wednesday night’s Champions League game against Ajax at the Johan Cruyff stadium was another time his detractors had a chance to have their points proven after a deadly miss at front of goal by the attacker.

It is one that has forced Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand to chip into the conversation to slander the player’s critics while also stating his own criticism.

Rio Ferdinand believes that Darwin Nunez will be an ‘effective striker’ for Liverpool despite his mixed performance and the £85m fee on him from last summer.

Ferdinand told BT Sport in his analysis that

“There were good and bad moments for him. He had a bit of an indifferent night. There’s moments with him where you’re just scratching your head but then he scored which is what you’ve bought him for.

“The thing with him is he always tries to get in the box and score goals, his head never drops, he’s tenacious, he wants to graft and fight. That’s definitely a plus, you want that on your side.

“He’s never going to be the cleanest of strikers but he will be an effective striker in the long run, an effective striker who scores goals at this football club.

“As a defender, he would be hard to play against, he would give a lot of defenders a hard days’ work.”