When Liverpool and Manchester City spent a combined £124m on a new striker apiece to revitalise their front-lines in the summer of 2022, inevitably those players were compared like-for-like.
Debuts for both in the Community Shield that August had some very prematurely claiming that is was Liverpool who had struck the better deal, with Erling Haaland having a stinker that afternoon in front of goal.
By contrast, Darwin Nunez headed home a late third for the triumphant Reds and looked bright throughout.
It was, according to the BBC website, an ‘almost perfect start’ for the Uruguayan, signed from Benfica for £4m more than Haaland, a month prior.
Only of course, we all know what came next, the Norwegian embarking on an unprecedented goal-scoring spree, smashing all manner of long-standing records in the process, while finding himself so short-priced in the football betting as to be almost an exception.
As for Nunez, he struggled in his inaugural campaign in English football, merely showing glimpses of the forward he may eventually be.
In due course, the comparisons ended. It was no contest. The conversation was redundant.
What followed thereafter however is interesting, illustrating how football works and not to its enormous credit.
Because in a convoluted and highly nuanced industry, our assessment of players is so binary that we all came to the same conclusion. That if Haaland was a roaring success, that must make Nunez a flop.
Was the pony-tailed forward a flop? Well, he certainly wasn’t a hit for sure, netting just nine league goals in 29 starts and missing 20 big chances, some of them glaring howlers that would probably qualify for Christmas compilation videos if they still made them.
His meagre tally came from a league-high of 4.5 shots per 90, resulting in a chance conversion ratio that has half that of Ivan Toney’s and a third of Haaland’s.
Yet, elsewhere there were sufficient positives and excuses to summarise his first season as hit and miss, not solely the latter.
Nunez’s link-up play could be decent, if somewhat erratic on occasion. He tended to reserve his goal-scoring for the bigger stages, and that’s never a bad thing, notching against City, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Moreover, he was replacing the best counter-pressing number nine of the modern age, a player who embodied Liverpool’s ferocious mandate, in Roberto Firmino. It was going to take a little time to acclimatise and adjust.
After a little time, this season he has, or at least there are definite signs of improvement, almost across the board.
An impressive double at Newcastle back in August caught the eye, demonstrating that he has the ways and means to be a game-changer.
To date, the Uruguayan has averaged a goal or an assist every 96 minutes in 2023/24. In a team that appears to be transformed after an underwhelming campaign, he is more and more establishing himself as a focal point, a striker of real merit.
And yet, he continues to underperform in relation to his xG (four goals from 5.00). He continues to exasperate with a couple of disappointing displays for every good moment.
He continues to flatter to deceive, with a big miss always in him.
Is there a person out there who would back him in the Premier League betting odds to score, over, say, Salah or Dias?
The blunt truth is that we are 18 months into our assessment of Darwin Nunez and we are no closer to determining whether he will be Liverpool’s first choice forward in a couple of years’ time or moved on to a top-six chasing side in Spain, or back to Portugal.
That in itself is quite an achievement. Admittedly there’s that.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
