Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has compared the current struggles of Darwin Nunez to a young Robert Lewandowski at Borussia Dortmund.
Nunez has received criticism in some quarters following his club-record £85million move from Benfica to Anfield as he has nine goals in 19 games, but his finishing and composure in front of goal has been questioned.
The Reds manager points towards his former Dortmund striker Lewandowski to explain how raw, unpolished talent can often look messy at the start.
Poland superstar Lewandowski scored eight goals in his first season at Dortmund in 2010/11 before becoming one of the greatest strikers in modern football.
“There are a lot of similarities (with Nunez), to be honest,” Klopp was quoted on talkSPORT.
“Yes, I think Lewi would tell the same story. We had shooting sessions where he didn’t finish off one.
“We had bets all the time for €10 where I said, ‘If you score more than 10 times I will pay you €10 and if you don’t you have to pay me’. My pocket was full of money.
“Going back to that time, when I started playing Lewandowski the journalists asked me why (Lucas) Barrios was not playing.
“Lucas Barrios had scored 16 goals that season and was the No.9 in our team. So Lewi started playing in different positions to adapt to different things. The Polish journalists were not too friendly with me because he didn’t play No.9. He played in a 4-2-3-1 at 10. I thought at that time it made absolute sense to develop his game.”