When the fans streamed out through the turnstiles at the end of the Gtech Community Stadium’s latest contest, it was the Liverpool supporters who sang.
Despite peppering the Brentford goal – or its general area, in any case – for 90 minutes, Arne Slot’s Reds had proved unable to breach the Bees’ stubborn resistance and were heading for a third straight Premier League draw.
With Arsenal hosting Aston Villa less than two hours later, dropped points spelt mounting concern for the Anfield side, who could have woken up on Sunday with a hangover after their closest title rivals sliced the deficit to just two points.
As it is, Liverpool are six points clear with a game in hand, the Gunners ceding a two-goal lead to draw against Unai Emery’s men after Darwin Nunez came up trumps off the bench, firing two goals past the previously redoubtable Mark Flekken in stoppage time.
Never in doubt indeed, James. Nunez doubled his top-flight tally for the term with his well-taken brace in west London, but the fact remains that the club-record signing has been uninspiring, flat, for the lion’s share of the season. The lion’s share of his Liverpool career.
Does he have a future in Slot’s system?
Why Liverpool could still sell Darwin Nunez
Speculation concerning Nunez’s Liverpool future has been rife over the past few weeks, with his wastefulness and uninfluential performances boiling down to news that Michael Edwards had rejected a mammoth £70m bid from the Saudi Pro League.
However, The Athletic have since quashed rumours that bids have been tabled, though it’s clear that intrigue in the Uruguay striker is genuine and that FSG are increasingly warming to the idea of selling him.
Nunez has charmed the Reds faithful all over again with his recent brace, but high points have been few and far between across his Merseyside stay and he will need to hit more goals with consistency over the coming months.
The 25-year-old has only scored 24 Premier League goals across 81 appearances since joining in 2022, as per Sofascore, missing 50 big chances to underscore his profligacy.
Slot will want a more clinical presence at the spearhead, and may just be honing in on a shrewd replacement.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
Shrewd Nunez replacement in Liverpool's crosshairs
Jonathan David’s name has been tethered to transfer speculation throughout his Lille career, but with the Canada striker’s contract set to expire this summer, plenty of sharks have started circling and this time it looks like he’ll be on the move.
Liverpool have been among the linked parties in recent years, and now The Mirror have commented that he will potentially be performing an audition when the Ligue 1 club meet Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League this evening.
Manchester United and Newcastle United are known admirers of the 25-year-old, so Liverpool will need to reveal their hand soon if they are to bring him in this year.
What Jonathan David would bring to Liverpool
David’s record across the past five years speaks of a high-level ability in front of goal. So clinical and composed, and most importantly, so consistent, he’s been hailed as “one of the best strikers in the world” by football personality Tony Marinaro.
2024/25
30
17
7
0.80
2023/24
47
26
9
0.74
2022/23
40
26
4
0.75
2021/22
48
19
0
0.40
2020/21
48
13
5
0.37
Ranking among the top 6% of strikers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals scored (0.79) per 90, as per FBref, as well as the top 2% for pass completion, there’s little question that David would bring a goalscoring edge to Slot’s project, with the technical skills to link up play and dominate in and around the box as Liverpool probe for a winner.
It’s crucial to draw further attention to the Canada international’s ball-playing pedigree. David’s ability to enhance his outfit’s overall fluency is a rare thing for an out-and-out striker. Indeed, not everyone boasts such talent.
Nunez, for example, might be a clutch player at times, tenacious and driven toward frustrating defenders, but he ranks among the bottom 37% of positional peers for pass completion, rarely dropping deep and stroking passes out wide to advance the Liverpool surge.
Curiously, the 25-year-old also ranks among the top 24% for goals scored per 90, which isn’t as low as you might think given the barrage on barrage of criticism that gets hurled his way.
But it all boils down to control and the cohesion levels of the overarching unit. Nunez might be capable of emerging from the shadows and securing a big moment, but Slot needs something more streamlined to sit at the arrow-point of his Liverpool side.
Going forward, Liverpool need to balance their goal load a bit better, for Mohamed Salah will be 33 years old by Autumn and Liverpool need to start coming up with different ways to rack up the tallies.
As per Sofascore, David has converted 11 of his 19 chances in Ligue 1 this term, which makes it his third successive top-flight campaign in the positive regarding ball-striking. This is a world away from Nunez’s labours, and another glowing representation of the dimension that Slot would add to his central strike force.
In some ways, David is Nunez’s inverse at number nine, providing a cool and composed take on the focal role and invariably giving his squad a prolific outlet.
Given that Liverpool could sign him on a free transfer, it does feel like something of a no-brainer, especially if Nunez is sold for a pretty.
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