Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick believed Liverpool had made a strong statement of intent with the €100 million signing of Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
Benfica announced on Monday that they have agreed on a €100 million transfer fee with Liverpool for Darwin Nunez. Liverpool is expected to officially announce the signing of Darwin Nunez this week.
What did Luke Chadwick say?
The former Manchester United midfielder said via CaughtOffside: “It’s a really strong statement of intent from Liverpool and a good signing for them.
“I remember seeing his performances against Liverpool in the Champions League and he excelled in those games.
“He offers something a bit different, he’s quite a traditional number 9, rather than Liverpool’s goal-scorers of recent years who play out wide, or Roberto Firmino in that false-9 role.
“I think it makes them stronger, and it was important to make that signing given that Sadio Mane is moving out of the club. It’s important as well in terms of Manchester City announcing the signing of Erling Haaland.
“It shows where United are at this moment in time, sadly. If you’re a player coming from overseas at this moment in time, unfortunately, Liverpool is a more attractive proposition.
“Nunez has shown he’s got the potential to be a successful Premier League player, so it’s a disappointment for United to miss out. But it’s not surprising at all really, considering the direction Liverpool are going in, in comparison to United.”
Luke Chadwick expects Jurgen Klopp to tweak his tactics to make room for their new number 9.
Luke Chadwick added: “On paper, it looks like two wide players and Nunez in the middle, but in reality, it’ll be quite different. Liverpool had to replace the goals of Mane, which they look to have done, albeit in a different position.
“We know Salah’s hungry for goals and he’ll do that regardless of who’s playing with him, but there can’t just be a burden on him to score all the goals. I’m sure Salah wants to be in a successful team, so I’m sure he’ll be pleased with this signing, another goal-scorer just makes them stronger.
“Salah can look like he gets the hump if he doesn’t get the ball, and he’s very single-minded in terms of getting shots on goal, as all good strikers should be, sometimes there are players in better positions. Still, with the environment Klopp’s created there, I’m sure they’ll both just be focused on helping the team do as well as possible. If they’re both scoring, it just puts Liverpool in a stronger position.”
Meanwhile, Luke Chadwick has criticized Manchester United’s recruitment team after they missed out on the signing of Darwin Nunez.
Chadwick claims the Manchester United recruitment team has a huge job at hand as they will struggle to get a world-class Striker after missing out on Darwin Nunez.
He said: “For United, there’s no one that stands out who’s likely to be available.
“The best goal-scorers have gone to Man City and Liverpool, unfortunately, so it’s certainly time for the recruitment team to pull out the stops to find these players.
“I can understand United fans are going to get a bit edgier the longer it takes to get deals done. It’ll be interesting to see what the scouts and others in the recruitment team can come up with because as it stands it’s been a good start to the window by Liverpool and City, but United needs three or four quality players to add to the excitement of the new manager coming in. I think if the squad is quite similar to last season the mood’s going to be a bit flat.
“It is concerning. It’s still early in the summer, but it is concerning that no business has been done yet and that not much progress seems to be being made on any particular players. You sort of getting the feeling that if the recruitment can’t get this transfer window right, then the club’s going to be in real trouble. You don’t want to be leaving things to the last minute.”
