(Reuters) – Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez must keep his composure and perform consistently as he tries to cope with the pressure of his big money move, captain Virgil van Dijk said ahead of Wednesday’s League Cup third round tie at home to West Ham United.
Nunez ended a 14-match goal drought for Liverpool by scoring his first this season in Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League home win over Bournemouth, which was his first start of the campaign.
The 25-year-old signed from Benfica two years ago in a club record deal reportedly worth up to 85 million euros ($94.55 million) and Van Dijk said the pressure is on for the Uruguay international to deliver consistently in his third season.
“He started against Bournemouth and scored a fantastic goal but he might not start the next game,” Van Dijk told local media.
“We want him to be consistent and keep doing it and doing it when he comes on and (also) when he starts. That’s the main thing, don’t get dragged into the positivity and then the low of the negativity or you will be dizzy at a certain point.”
Last season, Nunez topped the Premier League for most offsides (33) and was also the unluckiest in front of goal, hitting the woodwork nine times.
Nunez, who scored 11 goals and had eight assists from 36 league appearances last term, had the second-highest number of big chances missed (27), trailing only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (34), who won the Golden Boot with 27 goals.
“For him, coming into a club like Liverpool with the price tag there is always going to be pressure to produce week in, week out and he is trying to do that but it is not always that easy,” added Van Dijk.
“Now it is time for him to stay calm and I think, in my opinion, he has been doing that much better and the manager is busy with him a lot and us as players and we just have to keep him close to us and keep going.”
Liverpool visit Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday and host Italian side Bologna in their second Champions League game on Oct. 2.
($1 = 0.8990 euros)
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
