Darwin Núñez / signs for Liverpool

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This is modern football and XG is used by the top teams when scouting.
It really doesn't mean anything though does it unless you have several seasons of consistency to show you.

Son we can clearly see is a fantastic finisher and a scorer of great goals, not just tap ins. You can see that in real life footage to back it up.

If a striker over performs one year and under performs the next year, what does that tell us? nothing really.

Who mentioned luck?

Yes, this would make me buy Son over Nunez. Son has years of stats to fall back on, Nunez has one.
So you wouldn't use xG to decide whether to sign Nunez or not. What's the point of using it then?

He's either a brilliant striker who's a great finisher, or he's had a lucky season and won't score many goals again.

From what I've seen he's a natural finisher who has a lot of composure. I don't think that will disappear over night.
 
I think he'd be a proper Morata type. I hope I'm wrong.
Thats an odd one, I mean Morata isn't a finisher, where as Nunez certainly is. If he has issues it would be more to do with his all round play, which Morata doesn't struggle with
 
It really doesn't mean anything though does it unless you have several seasons of consistency to show you.

Son we can clearly see is a fantastic finisher and a scorer of great goals, not just tap ins. You can see that in real life footage to back it up.

If a striker over performs one year and under performs the next year, what does that tell us? nothing really.


So you wouldn't use xG to decide whether to sign Nunez or not. What's the point of using it then?

He's either a brilliant striker who's a great finisher, or he's had a lucky season and won't score many goals again.

From what I've seen he's a natural finisher who has a lot of composure. I don't think that will disappear over night.
xG is a commonly used matrix in modern football used by people with far greater knowledge of the sport than either of us. It's not for me to try and convince you on the merits of using it.

My issue wasn't with his finishing in the first place. It was more about his lack of passing ability. Rating in the very low percentile for pass accuracy and progressive passes. I just don't want him to be another Lakaku or Ronaldo to a lesser extent.
 


That's PSG, Newcastle, us and Atleti linked to him now...

Wonder where Mendes ends up signing him for
 
xG is a commonly used matrix in modern football used by people with far greater knowledge of the sport than either of us. It's not for me to try and convince you on the merits of using it.

My issue wasn't with his finishing in the first place. It was more about his lack of passing ability. Rating in the very low percentile for pass accuracy and progressive passes. I just don't want him to be another Lakaku or Ronaldo to a lesser extent.
If he is not involved in the build up and the only passes he makes are risky/killer passes into the box then it's not a surprise it's a low %.

Some strikers will puff that up dropping deep doing yard passes to a CM/winger then run back up top. Does that mean he's a better passer?

As I said, context matters. Stats can be helpful as a quick reference but football is such a varied game you can't use stats as a definitive.
 


That's PSG, Newcastle, us and Atleti linked to him now...

Wonder where Mendes ends up signing him for

PSG and Atletico will give him CL football. Newcastle will probably give him the biggest payday. So we’re up against it if all those other clubs are genuinely interested.

Or this could just be his agent trying to hurry someone along.
 
As I said, context matters. Stats can be helpful as a quick reference but football is such a varied game you can't use stats as a definitive.
For context, I've tried to watch as many Benfica games as I could after seeing him burst onto the european stage. I never or certainly didn't mean to imply that stats are the only way to buy a player but the eye test also shows he isn't great in the build-up too. It's been mentioned that EtH will play a different style to what we have seen and Haller isn't the most Mobil but Haller can pass a ball better than Nunez. I believe Nunez to be a good finisher with good pace but is that enough for us? I highly doubt he'll be with us anyway, the lack of CL football may hurt us for a season or two.
 
Nunez has had one great season. I accept Nunez is a lot younger and naturally he won't have the years Son has but history tells us that over performing xG at this level isn't usually sustainable.

Yup, agree with this. If we really want to go for him right now then it comes down to the eye test and if you trust the scouts to assess him correctly. The data itself is probably meaningless.

And for the eye test .. most resident Caf experts think he has poor link up, but works hard and is a good finisher.
 
I think players we were linked with befoe 11th May 2022 are players that were scouted by us and the club were preparing for negotiation just in case if ETH approves the signing, we can easily finalise the deal.

Almost like Kroos situation but at the end LVG didn't aprove the signing.

Don't be surprised after all the links we had with this guy or other players before 11th May 2022, might not end up coming here as ETH prefers different players.
 
If they ask for silly money then we're better off with someone like Scamacca instead
 
Seeing as Ronaldo is staying next season wouldn't it make more sense to sign a different type of forward like Nkunku ? If Leeds go down then Raphinha is apparently available for £25 million and Nkunku apparently for €50 million which is £42 million.

With Cavani, Lingard and Mata all leaving that’s about £600K a week in wages saved so around £2.5 million a month so there’s plenty to play with there money wise and that doesn’t include if we move Martial and Chong on which could bring in £20 million and another £300K a week in wages saved.

I just don’t see us bringing in a target man with Ronaldo staying and we still don’t know what’s going to happen with Greenwood but didn’t Ten Hag say something about Greenwood the other day ? We COULD end up with Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood and Elanga then hypothetically Raphinha and Nkunku which is lots of variety.
 
I just don’t see us bringing in a target man with Ronaldo staying and we still don’t know what’s going to happen with Greenwood but didn’t Ten Hag say something about Greenwood the other day ? We COULD end up with Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood and Elanga then hypothetically Raphinha and Nkunku which is lots of variety.
No, pretty certain that was fake, would have been huge news.
 
I think he'd be a proper Morata type. I hope I'm wrong.
When has Morata scored 40+ goals in a season or shown he's a pure goal scorer? Morata has a lot of benefits, but as players the only similarity between the 2 would be that they're both hard working.
 
Ornstein saying we are interested and feeling that £60m or €60m will be sufficient (don't remember which).

Euros. Here's the bit from the Ornstein article in the Athletic:
Heading towards the summer transfer window, the 22-year-old has emerged as one of Europe’s most coveted players and is generating serious interest from clubs including Manchester United having scored 32 goals in 38 games this season.

There is a firm expectation that Nunez will exit in the summer and as reported last month Benfica would ideally want a deal to be completed early in the market, so a replacement can be acquired. Sources close to the matter think he can be got for around €60 million, which is below previously mentioned figures.
 
Gut instinct but I feel he's going to be a absolute powerhouse whoever he signs for.
 
I still don't want him. Flash in the pan. A player outperforming their xG is always a red flag.
This is exactly why I am apprehensive. It's like with AWB and Felix. Spending loads on one season wonders doesn't usually work out well. I'd want at least two seasons worth of good performances to be confident in spending anything north of 30m on a player. 30m and below? Punts can be taken.
 
We need a striker that's a must, if ETH likes thus guy and a deal gets done we all have to just hope he's the business. Whoever comes will have to settle , there could be and I hope at least 4 quality players coming in all of them will need time.
 
Seeing as Ronaldo is staying next season wouldn't it make more sense to sign a different type of forward like Nkunku ? If Leeds go down then Raphinha is apparently available for £25 million and Nkunku apparently for €50 million which is £42 million.

With Cavani, Lingard and Mata all leaving that’s about £600K a week in wages saved so around £2.5 million a month so there’s plenty to play with there money wise and that doesn’t include if we move Martial and Chong on which could bring in £20 million and another £300K a week in wages saved.

I just don’t see us bringing in a target man with Ronaldo staying and we still don’t know what’s going to happen with Greenwood but didn’t Ten Hag say something about Greenwood the other day ? We COULD end up with Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood and Elanga then hypothetically Raphinha and Nkunku which is lots of variety.

Yeah with Ronny likely to stay then Nkunku/Raphinha would make more sense
 
I personally don't buy the Nuñez link with us at all.

Seems like typical agent-driven speculation dragging our name in to enhance interest.

I'm more inclined to believe the line that ETH wants a versatile forward.

Edit: Okay I've seen that Ornstein has said we're interested, fair enough probably more than just agent-led.

But if Atletico are in for him, don't think we've got a chance anyway.
 
I personally don't buy the Nuñez link with us at all.

Seems like typical agent-driven speculation dragging our name in to enhance interest.

I'm more inclined to believe the line that ETH wants a versatile forward.

Edit: Okay I've seen that Ornstein has said we're interested, fair enough probably more than just agent-led.

But if Atletico are in for him, don't think we've got a chance anyway.

Who do you think is his ideal person to play that versatile forward role, maybe you reckon he's already at the club.
 
Seeing as Ronaldo is staying next season wouldn't it make more sense to sign a different type of forward like Nkunku ? If Leeds go down then Raphinha is apparently available for £25 million and Nkunku apparently for €50 million which is £42 million.

With Cavani, Lingard and Mata all leaving that’s about £600K a week in wages saved so around £2.5 million a month so there’s plenty to play with there money wise and that doesn’t include if we move Martial and Chong on which could bring in £20 million and another £300K a week in wages saved.

I just don’t see us bringing in a target man with Ronaldo staying and we still don’t know what’s going to happen with Greenwood but didn’t Ten Hag say something about Greenwood the other day ? We COULD end up with Ronaldo, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood and Elanga then hypothetically Raphinha and Nkunku which is lots of variety.
Given that Ronaldo has always been better playing off of an actual striker, I think Darwin actually makes perfect sense. Put Ronaldo back out wide, who then moves centrally in defense. Darwin does a lot of his work drifting over to the wing and making runs in behind, but is also a really hard worker off the ball that he can have the work rate to make up for Ronaldo's lack of. He can also learn off him, and be the striker when we rest Ronaldo as Ronaldo can't play twice a week anymore if we want to keep his level high. It's also his last season regardless, so we need a striker.

Ignore Greenwood, he is done as a Man United player, ten hag said nothing about him.
 
Nunez is a perfect fit for Atletico. Boring player for a boring team=)
 
Who do you think is his ideal person to play that versatile forward role, maybe you reckon he's already at the club.

Maybe that Nkunku?

Just been named Bundesliga Player of the Season. 20 goals, 15 assists.

Apparently endorsed by Rangnick.
 
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It makes so much sense to sign a potential world class player like Nunez or Nkunku - so of course we wont :)
 
I do think Nkunku looks like a star in the making but I think Nunez could be too. I get real RVN watching his clips. He has an awkward style to him but it’s effective and his finishing looks too class. Funny but I think RVN would be criticised for the same things from the YouTube crowd because he never looked the most elegant. Some players just know how to hit the back of the net though and I reckon Nunez is one of them.
 
I do think Nkunku looks like a star in the making but I think Nunez could be too. I get real RVN watching his clips. He has an awkward style to him but it’s effective and his finishing looks too class. Funny but I think RVN would be criticised for the same things from the YouTube crowd because he never looked the most elegant. Some players just know how to hit the back of the net though and I reckon Nunez is one of them.

Yeah a predator in the box, however can also get on the end of crosses and set pieces too
 


That's PSG, Newcastle, us and Atleti linked to him now...

Wonder where Mendes ends up signing him for

Atlético is a Mendes club so 100% Atlético is the interest is real
 
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