Darwin Nunez's first season at Anfield and the formative years of his former striker Robert Lewandowski has been compared by Jurgen Klopp.
In 2010, when Lewandowski was still a raw diamond that needed to be polished, Klopp signed him to a contract with Borussia Dortmund.
In his debut Bundesliga season, he only managed to score eight goals, and Klopp is aware that Lewandowski faced the same criticisms of his goal-scoring ability as Nunez is currently facing.
Lewandowski has gone on to become one of the most prolific goalscorers of the modern era.
“There are a lot of similarities (with Nunez), to be honest,” the Liverpool manager said. “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.”
Klopp is of the opinion that experience and training will open the way to a more prolific goal production, just like Lewandowski did 12 years ago.
“It’s all about staying calm. When you see the potential, stay calm,” said Klopp. “It is so difficult in the world we are living in. I don’t mean this personally but because of you (the media) asking and making a big fuss about everything, then the supporters, social media, and all these kinds of things. The more you can shut off that, the better it is.
“I think we all agree that the potential is so obvious. Is everything right? No. I think it’s clear when you see the second chance, the big chance in the second half (against Aston Villa) he can run a little bit on an angle, and then he has a free choice.
“But it is all coming. You do it like this, the next time you do it like that. I had this situation with Lewi but it is not only Lewi. He is the obvious comparison. The team is completely convinced and that’s really cool.”
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