Incoming Liverpool signing Darwin Nunez has been compared to compatriot and former Reds striker Luis Suarez by Benfica team-mate Adel Taarabt.
The 22-year-old’s move to Anfield is set to be confirmed imminently, with Liverpool having a greed a deal worth an initial £64m which could rise to £85m for with the Lisbon club.
Nunez scored twice against the Reds in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League earlier this year, and hit a total of 34 across all competitions in only his second season in Portuguese football.
He made his international debut as a teenager in 2019 and has scored twice in 11 appearances, with Suarez and Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani also still in the Uruguay squad ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar in winter.
Former Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Taarabt believes that Nunez possesses skills which mimic both Uruguayan legends.
‘Darwin has a mix of [Edinson] Cavani and [Luis] Suarez, he can jump, he can go behind, for me he’s a mix of both, the Moroccan explained to TalkSport. ‘I mean 34 goals, six in the Champions League, two against Barcelona, Bayern Munich and two against Liverpool and he’s 22-years-old. So the most important thing is he keeps his head and he’s focused and I think the only thing [problem] that could happen for him in Liverpool is the language barrier.
‘I like the strikers that are selfish, that when they’re in front of goal they just want to score, just finish, and he has that, if he doesn’t score he’s not happy. But he was helpful for the team. He works so hard, he’s fit, if you see his body he’s a real athlete, he’s a machine, so for me in the Premier League he will score goals for sure.’
Taarabt expects Nunez to hit the ground running once the Premier League season begins in early August.
‘Last season when Benfica bought him from Almeria nobody knew him really but it was already a big fee, a lot of people were surprised,’ Taarabt said. ‘But when we saw him in the first training we understood that he was going to be one of the best strikers in the world. He has that mentality of South Americans, he likes to win, he’s a winner, he fights, he’s very very fast and strong as well.’
‘100 per cent, he showed it in the Champions League you see the two games that he had against Liverpool and he was amazing. Even after the game, the second-leg, Klopp goes to him direct and said what a player he is.’
Nunez is expected to replace Sadio Mane who, after winning every top tier trophy available to him in six years at Liverpool, is likely to join Bayern Munich this summer.
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