Darwin Nunez has scored six goals in his last five games for Uruguay and it’s hoped the guidance of head coach Marcelo Bielsa will inspire him into greater club form next season under Arne Slot.
The forward netted 18 times last term but just one of these came after March and none beyond the first week of April. Nunez turns 25 on Monday, the same day his country will kick off their Copa America campaign against Panama.
The nation has not reached the last four of the tournament since winning it for the 15th time back in 2011 but there is hope that Nunez can be the talisman to guide Uruguay beyond the quarter-finals this time around. By doing so, he will miss a chunk of Liverpool’s pre-season.
Slot outlined this week that he understands his summer schedule will be fractured due to international players returning at different stages as he tries to instil his playing methods in time for the new season. He described his methodology as akin to Jurgen Klopp but “not exactly the same”.
It’s hoped the change in head coach will not provide too much of a bump for Nunez, who will have the spotlight on him having underwhelmed during last season’s run-in, which led to him being benched for the final four Premier League matches.
For now, he is concentrating on international duty and on Friday posted a video of him scoring a sumptuous long-range effort in Uruguay training, showing that he very much still has his eye for goal despite his recent club barren spell.
The clip shows him bending a shot straight into the corner of the goal with the goalkeeper Sergio Rochet left rooted.
Barcelona star Ronald Araujo is seen almost getting in the way initially, which prompted Nunez to write on Instagram: “Where u going bro Leave me to my @ronaldaraujo_4 [sic]” with a laughing emoji. He also added: “Sorry @chinorochet93.”
Nunez will fancy upping his Uruguay goal tally in group games against Panama, Bolivia and the USA. He has scored in each of his past five outings for his country, meaning he has registered 11 goals in 23 caps in total.
