This is damning from Arne Slot and confirms what is pretty clear from the naked eye: Darwin Núñez has the physical attributes of a truly elite centre-forward but not the mentality or emotional discipline. www.theguardian.com/football/202... - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

sachinnakrani.bsky.social • 3 days ago

This is damning from Arne Slot and confirms what is pretty clear from the naked eye: Darwin Núñez has the physical attributes of a truly elite centre-forward but not the mentality or emotional discipline.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/feb/20/arne-slot-criticises-darwin-nunez-for-dropping-work-rate-after-horror-liverpool-miss-aston-villa?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Comments

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

… Michael Owen always says that what made him an elite forward was his ability to get cooler and calmer in the key moments, namely when he was about to strike for goal. Darwin is the polar opposite; he gets hotter and more frantic, seen starkly with THAT miss last night.

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

… hope for Liverpool now is he can contribute some important goals between now the end of the season but hope shouldn’t be held out in that regard given the drop off at the end of each of his first two seasons at the club: 1 goal in last 11 games in 2022/23 and 1 goals in last 13 games in 2023/24.

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

… should be said that Darwin has not been helped by the fact the team has never really been setup to play to his strengths, this season especially. His ‘involvement’ stats drastically down. Equally, he’s had chances to make notable impacts throughout his time at Liverpool and fluffed most of them.

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

… best for all concerned that he moves on in summer. As a supporter that will come as a relief as, honestly, I can’t keep watching him play the club. And I’m tired of him being such a polarising figure within the fanbase. Been no one like him in that regard since Mario Balotelli, which says a lot.

seanmcdermott.bsky.social•3 days ago

That's a great comparison. Mad thing is that Balotelli was a panic buy, whereas Nunez wasn't.

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

Indeed.

With Darwin, just have to accept it was a rare, massive mistake. Club didn’t do due diligence on his character and too little thought was given to how he would fit into the side. Baffling given, as you say, he wasn’t a panic buy.

twitch10.bsky.social•3 days ago

He’s not been the same since the Saudi bid, his heads defo gone. I’d be surprised if Slott gives him many more minutes if he can’t trust him to put a shift in

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

… on personal note, I was in the away end at the City Ground when he scored the late winner there last season and it remains one of my all-time favourite limbs. Sadly wasn’t there for Newcastle and Brentford but celebrated them wildly too. So yeah, cheers Darwin. But we’re all definitely done here.

davidphillips.bsky.social•3 days ago

As I put it a little while ago, you can be a cult hero or an £85m forward, but you can't be an £85m cult hero.

michaelnoller.bsky.social•3 days ago

I agree he should go but there is part of me that still thinks that if he goes to the right club he could be great and score a tonne of goals.

dearglfc.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think he will score a lot of goals for a team ( hopefully NUFC after an Isak swap with LFC) set up with him as the focal point of the attack

emptymindz.bsky.social•3 days ago

It simply hasn’t worked out, & he’s almost the same player now as when he walked through the door. Best for everyone if we part ways in the summer.

andywebster1971.bsky.social•2 days ago

It’s sad because the potential was there. Just for some reason not fulfilled it. Not to say he won’t succeed elsewhere.

kwiksave.bsky.social•3 days ago

Man's gone in the summer.

We wanted him to succeed but sometimes you gotta know when to move on

sachinnakrani.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yep