That’s because he’s the main man in a top side. With Salah being stuck out on the wing literally all the chances have to fall to Nunez or it falls down an even deeper hole to Harvey Elliott.
It’s an experiment in seeing a shit striker play for a top team, it’s the my granny could score 10 goals for team X in action.
It’s not just the chances missed but when he misses them. He misses so much that it changes games. He may score later on to get the team back in it or score a late winner but he makes everything so much harder for the team. Where chances created? Where’s pass completion etc? He is such a terrible all round player that those numbers can’t be ignored. There’s more to being a striker in todays Game than scoring and he doesn’t even do that well
First: No one is argueing that his finishing has been terrible this season
Second: His ability to get into good scoring positions and make good runs is second to only a handful if any. His 0,97 npxG/90 is just off the charts in the PL, meaning he's getting to more and better chances than anyone who's played in the PL since my sources started calculating xG (2014/2015) season and anyone in the top 5 leagues this season. You don't get these numbers by just being the main man in a top side, he get's them because he has absolute elite movement, spacial awareness and is fantastic at identifying spaces and making/timing runs.
Here's the top npxG/90 (non penalty expected goals) numbers for the top 5 leagues the last 9 seasons (for players with 1000 minutes or more over a season) See if you can find any "main man in top sides" in here:
PL:
14/15 - Aguero 0,73, Cissè 0,65, Costa 0,65, Sturridge 0,54, Bony 0,54 and Kane 0,52
15/16 - Aguero 0,61, Benteke 0,55, Walcott 0,55, Lukaku 0,52, Grioud 0,51, Kane 0,50 and Vardy 0,50
16/17 - Aguero 0,71, Giroud 0,54, KAne 0,54, Afobe 0,51, Ayew 0,48, Zlatan 0,46 and Lukaku 0,44
17/18 - Jesus 0,74, Salah 0,72, Kane 0,71, Aguero 0,70, Auba 0,65, Sterling 0,63 and Niasse 0,62
18/19 - Aguero 0,66, Auba 0,65, Lukaku 0,56, Salah 0,54, Chicha 0,51, Sterling 0,51 and Wilson 0,51
19/20 - Jesus 0,90, Aguero 0,82, Tammy 0,73, Giroud 0,66, Antonio 0,64 Sterling 0,61, Woods 0,60 and Salah 0,57
20/21 - Antonio 0,64, Cavani 0,57, Jota 0,57, DCL 0,57, Kane 0,56, Tammy 0,54 and Iheanacho 0,51
21/22 - Jota 0,65, Salah 0,65, Sterling 0,57, Ronaldo 0,54, Mane 0,53, Welbeck 0,5, Son 0,50, Vardy 0,50 and Kane 0,49
22/23 - Nunez 0,97, Haaland 0,94, Wilson 0,69, Jesus 0,69, Toney 0,68, Firmino 0,60, Awoniyi 0,59, Salah 0,59, Kane 0,53 and Mitro 0,48
LaLiga:
14/15 - Ronaldo 0,88, Messi 0,84, Neymar 0,77, Suarez 0,60...Griezmann 0,53... Benzema 0,48
15/16 - Benzema 0,93 ,Suarez 0,92, Ronaldo 0,82, Agirretxe 0,75, Messi 0,72, Miku 0,70 and Neymar 0,67
16/17 - Suarez 0,75, Messi 0,69, Ronaldo 0,69, Morata 0,65, Benzema 0,63...Neymar 0,46
17/18 - Ronaldo 0,94, Messi 0,78, Suarez 0,76, Ben Yedder 0,67.....Benzema 0,52
18/19 - Messi 0,74, Suarez 0,68, Morata 0,61, Ben Yedder 0,56....Benzema 0,50
19/20 - Suarez 0,60, Morata 0,54, Messi 0,54, Josè 0,52, Isak 0,51, Benzema 0,50
20/21 - Messi 0,68, En-Nesyri 0,62, Isak 0,59, Benzema 0,58 and Suarez 0,55
21/22 - Auba 0,72, Danjuma 0,64, Cunha 0,64, Benzema 0,57 and Vinicius 0,48
22/23 - Benzema 0,94, Lewa 0,89, Torres 0,71, Sorloth 0,66 and Rodrygo 0,55
Bundesliga:
14/15 - Dost 0,67, Ginczek 0,62, Lewa 0,61, Modeste 0,56....Auba 0,46
15/16 - Lewa 0,91, Auba 0,91, Muto 0,54, Müller 0,50 and Werner 0,49
16/17 - Auba 0,91, Lewa 0,85, Petersen 0,57, Reus 0,56....Werner 0,48
17/18 - Lewa 0,94, Auba 0,86, Wagner 0,51....Werner 0,43
18/19 - Lewa 0,92, Alcàcer 0,72, Kramaric 0,63, Jovic 0,62 and Werner 0,59
19/20 - Lewa 0,89, Haaland 0,75, Werner 0,67, Silva 0,62 and Gnabry 0,57
20/21 - Lewa 0,92, Haaland 0,77, Mateta 0,68, Silva 0,66 and Weghorst 0,48
21/22 -
Lewa 1,04, Schick 0,78, Haaland 0,59, Poulsen 0,55, Awoniyi 0,54 and Silva 0,53
22/23 - Thuram 0,73, Werner 0,68, Manè 0,66, Gnabry 0,62, Moukoko 0,60 and Nkunku 0,56
Serie A:
14/15 - Klose 0,56, Maxi 0,54 Higuain 0,51 and Icardi 0,50
15/16 - Higuain 0,75, Kalinic 0,58, Dzeko 0,55 and Zapata 0,49
16/17 - Dzeko 0,89, Mertens 0,80, Higuain 0,59 and Icardi 0,52
17/18 - Lasagna 0,54, Icardi 0,53, Cutrone 0,53, Dzeko 0,51 and Immobile 0,51
18/19 - Ronaldo 0,63, Zapata 0,59, Dzeko 0,53 and Milik 0,52
19/20 - Dzeko 0,67, Zapata 0,66, Ronaldo 0,60 and Zlatan 0,60
20/21 - Muriel 0,90, Ronaldo 0,76, Zlatan 0,70, Dzeko 0,66 and Zapata 0,65
21/22 - Martinez 0,77, Zapata 0,68, Dzeko 0,60, Kean 0,58 and Osimhen 0,57
22/23 - Osimhen 0,90, Dzeko 0,68, Tammy 0,61 and Giroud 0,59
Ligue 1:
14/15 - Cavani 0,69, Zlatan 0,54, N'Jie 0,50....Martial 0,46
15/16 - Zlatan 0,84, Cavani 0,73, Lacazette 0,57 and Batshuayi 0,52
16/17 - Cavani 0,93, Plea 0,65, Depay 0,58...Falcao 0,54, Lacazette 0,50, Mbappe 0,50
17/18 - Cavani 0,71, Neymar 0,68, Mbappe 0,59 and di Maria 0,54 (Balanced league?)
18/19 -
Mbappe 1,09, Dembele 0,66, Cavani 0,62....Neymar 0,50
19/20 -
Mbappe 0,98, Icardi 0,82 and Neymar 0,74
20/21 - Mbappe 0,69, Icardi 0,67, Ekambi 0,57, Kean 0,56 and Neymar 0,55
21/22 - Dembele 0,76, Mbappe 0,65, Icardi 0,64 and Diallo 0,55
22/23 - Mbappe 0,67, Messi 0,66, Openda 0,63 and Neymar 0,55
Only 3 times (Lewa x 1 and Mbappe x 2) has a player in a top 5 league generated more npxG/90 than Nunez has this season since 2014.
When you add his 0,36 xA/90 it is really extraordinary numbers. You don't produce these numbers being a shit striker. Right now he has every tool in his box except the finishing.
