Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was generous in his praise for the under-fire Darwin Núñez following Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa in the Boxing Day Premier League clash.
Nunez missed a golden chance to find the back of the net in the game where Mohamed Salah scored to equal club legend Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool goalscoring record and the 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic scored his debut goal.
Despite Nunez’s struggles in front of the goal, which have earned the Uruguay striker much criticism from the Liverpool supporters since his club-record transfer in the summer, Klopp insisted ( via The Guardian) that the 23-year-old was important as ever to his side.
“It’s not as though he can close his eyes and hit the ball in.
“The scoring in the beginning is not so important. I am not since yesterday in the business and so I know. When you look back, you cannot imagine how many big chances [other strikers] they made in the beginning. We are completely calm.
“What I really love and what is so special is that in the third goal pretty much everyone in the room, we would have all hammered the ball down and tried to force it. The workrate he put in, the depth he creates for us, he is unstoppable in the moment, there is no defender who can really catch up speed-wise. I know all of the stories around, it is completely fine. He played an exceptional game tonight and we won 3-1, that’s all that counts.”
Liverpool fans were in for a treat after the win at Villa Park on Boxing Day with reports suggesting that the Reds had struck an agreement with Dutch top-flight side PSG for signing Cody Gapko in the January window.
Gapko’s move to Anfield is due when the transfer window reopens for business in the coming days and the Holland winger will provide Klopp with the much-needed cover for his injury-hit front line.
