Liverpool plan for Darwin Nunez taking shape as new footage shows transformation

Darwin Nunez appears to be making solid progress in his pre-season training as he gears up for the new Premier League campaign alongside his Liverpool team-mates. The 24-year-old had a decent first year at Anfield after joining the club from Benfica last summer but still has plenty of room for improvement as he looks to fulfil his sky-high potential.

Nunez reported back for the start of pre-season at Liverpool last week and looks to be excelling in the fitness drills that have been shared to the club’s social media accounts. The Reds posted a selection of images from their infamous lactate test on Sunday and Nunez looked surprisingly comfortable in comparison to some of his fellow players, who appeared to be flagging.

One picture showed Nunez running ahead of Joe Gomez, who finished second to James Milner in Liverpool’s annual lactate test a few years ago. The Uruguayan forward did not look like he was struggling, either, while the likes of Fabinho and Joel Matip behind him appeared to be digging much deeper.

Another post shared on Twitter included a video of Nunez and some of his team-mates lining up in preparation for a drill, with the former Benfica man displaying a greater level of focus than some may have been expecting. He also seems to have gained a decent grasp of the English language over the summer after predominantly speaking Spanish in interviews and training sessions last season.

He was quick to remind his fellow Liverpool stars to keep their standards high before the start of the drill, saying in the video: “[We’ve] finished our holiday, guys, come on.”

Nunez managed to score 15 goals in all competitions in his first season at Liverpool, establishing himself as a valuable option for Jurgen Klopp either as a starter or from the bench in the process. He will be desperate to fill the void left by Roberto Firmino’s departure when the new campaign gets underway, although it remains to be seen if he will be able to improve on the numbers he produced last time around.

The forward is by no means the finished product and was criticised by some fans throughout last season after failing to live up to the hype that surrounded his arrival from Benfica last July. However, it seems as though Liverpool are prepared to be patient in their bid to nurture his talents and get him firing on all cylinders over the next few months.

Reds icon Stevie Nicol recently hit out at those who have already written Nunez off at Anfield, telling ESPN: “You want the finished article, but at the same time have a look around the Premier League and the money people are spending on players that maybe don’t even have that potential.

“The guy has had one season. Straight away, right off the bat, you just said ‘is he a bust already?’ This guy has never been given a chance by anybody. Hold on a second, let’s get this right. When he was signed, did anybody at Liverpool tell us that ‘this guy is the present, this guy is going to start now?’

“The transfer fee doesn’t always tell you that. The guy was brought in as the future, yet after four months, everybody was on his back. Four months! And they were told that the guy is the future.”

Want the latest Premier League news as we publish it on Express Sport? Join our Facebook group by clicking here.