Mohamed Salah Laughs Off Criticism Of Darwin Nunez And Makes Roberto Firmino Liverpool Comparison
Mohamed Salah has disclosed that he prefers to play alongside Darwin Nunez at Liverpool since Roberto Firmino left the club at the end of the 2022/23 season. Nunez took over the no.9 shirt at the start of last season but has struggled to find the back of the net consistently.
The Uruguay international has been heavily criticised this campaign, having scored only three goals in 18 appearances and has only one in his last nine for the Reds, which came in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa before the November international break.
Nunez continues to divide opinion among Liverpool supporters following his unconvincing display against Newcastle United in midweek. He missed several chances as Arne Slot's side dropped points for the third time this season following a 3-3 draw at St. James' Park.
His strike partner, Mohamed Salah took centre stage as he scored twice for Liverpool who are leading both the Premier League and Champions League. Salah, whose future is still unresolved has 13 goals and leads the Premier League scoring charts with Erling Haaland who scored in Manchester City's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
As part of a competition organised by banks Visa and El Mashrek, Salah was asked by one supporter via Zoom about who he most liked playing with at Anfield.
"Who do I most like to play with? It was Firmino," Salah says. "Now I feel like I generally like playing with Nunez.
"A lot of people don't like him but I like playing with him. I see Bahaa (the man in the video asking the question) keeps shaking his head not liking [Nunez].
"Nah (laughing), I like playing with him in general. [Nunez is] a player with different skills. Not a lot of people understand his ball."
Despite his uninspiring performances this season, former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann believes that Darwin Nunez could be 'the best player in the world' and remains important to Arne Slot.
"If Darwin Nunez had better finishing, he’d be the best player in the world," Hamann told Genting Casino.
"He has all the attributes you need to be a top striker, he has the physicality and is a nightmare to play against because of his pace and ability in the air.
“What he needs is a rhythm in the team, which means six or seven games and he hasn’t had that under Arne Slot, it’s hard when he’s competing against so much talent. But he can still be a hugely important player this season and I wouldn’t put it past Slot to make that happen.”
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LFC Transfer Room Football Correspondent. Covered the fortunes of Liverpool for the past three years. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli