Jurgen Klopp‘s departure from Anfield’s dugout was always going to be a watershed moment for Liverpool, but the Reds deserve praise for the seamless transition to life under Arne Slot, who is very much off to a flyer in the Premier League.
Many early questions have been answered, but there’s a conundrum yet to be solved in the mould of Darwin Nunez, who joined Liverpool in a deal rising to a club-record £85m in 2022.
The 25-year-old is one of the most influential and electric strikers in the world, but he’s also an enigma, raising questions for his employers as a lack of temperament in pivotal moments. To put it another way, he’s pretty wasteful, routinely missing from a glorious opening, having expertly woven his way into a promising position.
It’s annoying, a blemish on an otherwise intoxicating skillset that has left him waiting for his first start under Slot’s leadership. Nunez was actually an unused substitute during the opening-day victory over Ipswich Town, before earning cameos against Brentford and Manchester United.
Darwin Nunez: Liverpool Stats by Competition | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competition | Apps | Goals | Assists |
Premier League | 67 | 20 | 11 |
Europa League | 10 | 5 | 1 |
Champions League | 8 | 4 | 0 |
Carabao Cup | 7 | 1 | 4 |
FA Cup | 5 | 2 | 1 |
Stats via Transfermarkt | |||
He’s been kept out by Diogo Jota at number nine. On the flank, Mohamed Salah has been as undroppable as ever on the right, posting three goals and three assists across three matches, while Luis Diaz looks like a man reborn on the left.
Luis Diaz is reborn under Arne Slot
Diaz being here at this stage, playing for Slot, was not a certainty as Liverpool’s transfer window trundled on through. Barcelona have been interested in the Colombian menace but were put off by FSG’s transfer demands, putting a €75m (£63m) price tag on the winger.
He notched 13 goals and five assists across all competitions which wasn’t the greatest return, but Diaz is a tireless performer with crackling dribbling and intelligence and ease in his movements, economical yet effusive in his expression.
Slot’s arrival has taken Diaz to another level. It’s early days yet but he’s fast and furious and, importantly, prolific. Three goals and an assist across the opening three matches of the season bear testament to his energy and newfound clinical edge.
Could Diaz finally rise to a position that was envisaged upon his arrival, back in January 2022? He was welcomed before the sale of Sadio Mane but welcomed with the expectation that he would succeed the Senegal international.
Sadio Mane’s record at Liverpool
Mane is one of the most iconic forwards in modern Premier League history. He might be gone now, but his legacy lives on.
Liverpool signed the wide forward from Southampton in June 2016, in a deal worth £34m. It was Klopp’s first summer at the helm and it was one of the Reds’ most transformative signings across the duration of the German’s tenure, for Mane proved to be one of the deadliest forwards in all of Europe in the years that followed.
Across 269 fixtures, Mane clinched 120 goals and supplied 42 assists for Liverpool, notably starring during victorious campaigns in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, among further major honours.
The 32-year-old’s electric movements and deadly finishing saw him form a crucial part of Klopp’s historic frontline: partnering Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Klopp had called the winger a “world-class” player, but then that’s quite the understatement. Diaz is seeking to emulate his predecessor, and though he’s an excellent player, he has a way to go before surpassing him.
But at the start of the 2021/22 season, Liverpool had a problem. Mane and his strikeforce partners had all entered the penultimate years of their contracts, and it was tacitly acknowledged that extending all three deals was implausible.
Firmino would see how the duration of his deal, leaving in 2023, whereas Salah extended and could extend once again – though let’s leave that one for another day, eh?
The “machine” that was Mane – as said Klopp – was sold, and so ended his Premier League career.
Sadio Mane’s career since leaving Liverpool
Bayern Munich snapped the ace up for a £35m fee, though it was an initial £27m figure for the Merseysiders’ bank. This meant that Liverpool cashed for around the same figure as was once paid, having reaped all the rewards in the vast interim.
Mane’s Bundesliga experience was not an auspicious thing. He scored 12 times for the German giants but was at the epicentre of a high-profile bust-up with teammate Leroy Sane. It wasn’t a surprise when he left after his one and only year in Germany, joining Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.
Since joining Al Nassr, Mane has scored 19 goals and 13 assists across 50 fixtures, meaning he has netted 31 strikes since leaving Liverpool two years ago.
That 19-goal haul last year means that he outscored both Diaz and Nunez. Heck, you could chuck Jota in there as well, although the Portuguese striker was knocked by injuries and still managed to bag 15 goals from 19 starting appearances.
Diaz, as documented earlier, only scored 13 goals across his 53 outings, whereas Nunez was more potent with 18 goals but he still missed a thick catalogue of chances.
Klopp once described Mane as “one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players“, and he wasn’t wide of the mark. The Senegalese might not reclaim the lofty heights of his Redman days, but he will take solace in the fact that he’s one of the Premier League’s finest-ever forwards.
His weekly earnings of about £650k per week can’t hurt either, to be fair. He’ll take solace in that. And anyway, given that he’s still outscoring the likes of Diaz and Nunez, he’s enjoying his football too.
