"He will get there" - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp backs star to be 'super important' for the Anfield club

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on Darwin Nunez for his performance in their Premier League victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 1. The German boss has stated that the Uruguayan striker is an important player and is essential to the club.

The Reds secured a 2-0 win over Wolves at Anfield as Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah got on the scoresheet.

Nunez had a great game and did manage to find the back of the net in the encounter as well. However, the Uruguay international's strike was disallowed due to a foul by Diogo Jota in the build-up to the goal.

Following the encounter, Klopp was asked about his striker's performance. The Liverpool boss said (via This is Anfield):

“I would say he is really getting there. Everybody can see he is just a handful, just a proper threat. Again, the [disallowed] goal he scored was a super reaction, a super finish. The runs he had, one again down the line; in the end cross didn’t arrive but [it was] pretty similar to the Everton goal, if you want."

He added:

“Using his speed in both directions, offensively and defensively. He is really good. He is still a young boy and I think everyone can see he will get there, there is no doubt about it, but he is already for us super important.”

The Red signed Nunez from Benfica last summer in a club-record deal worth up to €100 million. He has come under some criticism this season over his finishing in the final third. However, he has managed to rack up 12 goals and four assists in 29 games across competitions for Liverpool.

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"We aren’t as bad as everyone says" - Liverpool staff member claims Reds are performing better than 'results would suggest'

Liverpool's director of research Ian Graham claims that the Reds are not performing as badly as one may think.

Liverpool are currently sixth in the league table after a recovery in form, having won three of their last four games. However, they have spent the majority of the season outside the top six amid a rocky season for the Reds.

This is in contrast to last season when the Reds were on the cusp of winning a historic quadruple.

Despite their overall struggles this term, Graham, the staff member behind Liverpool's famous data-driven player management, believes the club are still safe in the long term. He said at the Financial Times' Business of Football Summit (via This is Anfield):

“It is a very easy message to sell inside the club that we aren’t as bad as everyone says we are and we’re not as bad as even you may think we are. Given the difficulties we’ve had achieving results, our underlying performances are good. And in the long term we should worry about underlying performance and not the results in the last three games."

Quoting iconic Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, Graham added:

“I think it was Arsene Wenger that said he wasn’t interested in the result of the next game, he was interested in the result of the next 10 games.”

The Merseysiders will next host rivals Manchester United on Sunday, March 5.