Good Players, Bad Profiles

Why did Liverpool sign Darwin Núñez?

Go on, admit it. You expected me to analyse Darwin Núñez under Arne Slot in this post, didn’t you? Well, I was tempted, but no, I want more evidence before exploring that bottomless rabbit hole.

Now isn’t the time to pile on the Reds number nine. But given he’s a constant talking point on Merseyside, I don’t think we’ve spent anywhere near enough time reflecting on Liverpool’s decision to sign him two-and-a-half years ago.

Plenty of supporters seem eager to sell him in 2025, but nobody appears to care why the Reds bought him in the first place. Players fail for a reason. Liverpool don’t tend to make big-money mistakes, but Núñez will be regarded as a high-profile flop if he does indeed depart in the coming months.

So why exactly are we in this sticky predicament?

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Well, let’s travel back in time to 2022. In their quest to win all four trophies that year, Liverpool played nine games in all competitions in April, with two of them coming against Benfica in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Núñez started against the Reds in each of those games, and he was excellent. Just 22 years old at the time and standing around 6-foot-2, the Uruguayan striker scored in both legs, operated as his team’s biggest threat, flaunted his speed and even demonstrated his capacity to drift out wide.

Virgil van Dijk, no less, later described him as one of the toughest opponents he’s ever faced. Jürgen Klopp remembered his two performances, and you can’t really blame him, which explains the German’s thought process once Michael Edwards decided to call time on his Liverpool career just two months later.

With the former Reds sporting director replaced by Julian Ward, an argument seemed to materialise behind the scenes regarding who deserves the keys to the club’s transfer budget. Klopp unsurprisingly came out victorious given his power at Anfield, with Ward offering his resignation six months later.

In a recent conversation with The Athletic, Ian Graham — the club’s former director of research — said: “Núñez played brilliantly against Liverpool and that has an effect on people. It didn’t do him any harm in becoming a Liverpool player.”

Indeed, in an interview with The Times earlier this year, he offered more insight. “Núñez was more on Jürgen’s radar,” he said. “In our data analysis, he was one of the best young strikers in the world. My concern about him was: is he a player you are willing to change your style a little bit for? Because we hadn’t played with a number nine for many years.”

With Roberto Firmino’s career in England starting to dwindle, the Reds threw virtually all of their summer budget on Núñez, and — crucially — it wasn’t that he was a bad player in the data, no. It was that he was different. This was a profiling issue.

"It’s different to whether they are any good or not.” said Graham. “We always had a list of great players but not for Liverpool. Defensive full-backs, target men, crossing wingers — we just didn’t play in that style.”

For years, through a collaborative and evidence-based approach to recruitment, Liverpool had signed good players who also personified the team’s playing style and addressed a positional need on the pitch.

When Klopp pushed for Núñez, though, it’s reasonable to suggest our Jürgen made a mistake. He was duped by a small sample size, deceived by a highlight reel, and convinced having faced Núñez as an opposing manager across 180 minutes of action.

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So after Liverpool agreed to purchase the Benfica star for anything between £64m and £85m depending on who you believe, the Reds struggled. Núñez wasn’t entirely to blame, but he certainly didn’t help.

Klopp had gotten used to the central protection offered by Firmino as a false nine who sat 20 yards in front of Fabinho. But Núñez just wasn’t that guy, instead preferring to run away from his midfielders in an attempt to threaten in behind opposition defences.

We’ve been through this matter before on this Substack. The decision to sign Núñez instead of an alternative midfielder to Aurélien Tchouaméni — who the Reds had targeted only for the Frenchman to choose Real Madrid — was stinging Klopp’s men every week in the Premier League.

Liverpool suddenly appeared wide open, with no false nine up front and no midfield options under the age of 64.

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Six months after signing Núñez, the Reds proceeded to essentially repeat the same mistake in the transfer market. They invested in another good player, but yet again, didn’t really seem to recognise what they were buying.