Darwin Nez took a year to make an impression at Liverpool, but he couldn’t have picked a better moment. Two goals from the Uruguayan striker as a late substitution against Newcastle United on Sunday transformed a deficit into a triumph for Jurgen Klopp’s club, maybe demonstrating what all the buzz was about.
Nez has blown hot and cold since joining in a club-record move from Benfica in the summer of 2022 in a transaction that might ultimately cost Liverpool £85 million. He’s showed flashes of world-class skill, but they’ve been overshadowed by bad finishing, unpredictable decision-making, and a short fuse that opponents have used to disrupt his attention and turn him into a liability at times.
But something has always been there in Nez. He is a raw diamond that will take time to polish into a final product, but his capacity to disappoint fans, teammates, and Klopp alike has left the 24-year-old questioning if he can be the real thing for Liverpool this season.
Two crucial goals at St. James’ Park, which secured a 2-1 win for Liverpool despite being reduced to ten players due to captain Virgil van Dijk’s 28th-minute red card, will not put those doubts to rest, but the ruthless manner in which Nez took his chances will have come as a huge relief to Klopp, who needs Nez to come good more than ever this season.
“Nez was a fantastic performance,” Klopp stated. “He was plainly enraged at not being able to start. He’s clearly unhappy. It’s early in the season, and we need to establish consistency and success, but he will play, without a question.
“But he has two goals and can’t take his smile off his face.”
Nez had a rough debut season at Anfield after being recruited as part of Liverpool’s strategy for a future without Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino, and Mohamed Salah. He only scored nine Premier League goals and six more in other competitions, thus his end-of-year grade will be a five out of 10.
But, with Firmino departing the club at the conclusion of his contract this summer – only a year after Mané went to Bayern Munich – only Salah remains of the club’s Champions League and Premier League-winning front three, so the time has come for Nez to produce. He has yet to play a game this season, with Klopp starting him off the bench in each of Liverpool’s three games so far, indicating that the Liverpool manager is still unclear how to get the most out of his most costly purchase.
Nez’s first opportunity against Newcastle demonstrated why Klopp is sceptical. Racing onto a through-ball, Nez lost control, and Harvey Barnes nearly put Newcastle 2-0 up at the opposite end within seconds.
The main advantage of Nez is that, despite his failures and lost opportunities, he has the capacity to erase the negativity and try again. And when he equalised from an almost similar opportunity to the one he had blown minutes before, he did so with a brilliant shot across the face of goal that only the most in-form striker would normally try.
Finding a method to regularly get Nez to take those chances is Klopp’s task, but he will continue. With his quickness, movement, and finishing (when it works), Liverpool knows they have a striker capable of scoring 20 to 30 goals every season in the long run.
Nez’s winner came after being set up by Salah’s ball, and it was another slick finish past custodian Nick Pope that made a joke of his reputation as a player who misses more than he scores. The difficulty with Nez is that he scores the difficult chances but struggles with the apparently simple ones, although that fault should be remedied with time on the practise field.
The fact that Nez was able to save and win this game for Liverpool demonstrates Klopp’s team’s tenacity.
They were swamped by Newcastle for lengthy stretches, but despite losing Van Dijk due to a reckless foul on Alexander Isak, they managed to stave off the home side long enough to remain in the game. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker made key stops, including one from Miguel Almirón, to deny Newcastle from going in 2-0 up at halftime, and the home side couldn’t find a way to score the second and seal the game.
“We should have put the game away, and that’s probably what we’re all kicking ourselves about,” Newcastle manager Edde Howe said. “We created a lot of chances and had a lot of goalmouth action.” Their custodian made one of the finest saves I’ve seen live from Almirón, but it wasn’t to be for us.
“The moments and chances were there right up until the end, but we lacked the killer instinct.”
However, it was Nez who shown that deadly instinct, and his effort won the game for Liverpool. This was his most important game in a Liverpool jersey, the day when he genuinely made a difference under pressure.
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