Virgil van Dijk has previously warned Darwin Nunez's Liverpool teammates
Virgil van Dijk has already cautioned Jurgen Klopp's team about club-record acquisition Darwin Nunez, but the majority of Liverpool's players have not even started preseason training.Darwin Nunez is a club record acquisition for Liverpool, and Virgil van Dijk has already warned his teammate about the enormous struggle they will face in training.
The Reds' latest addition, who was plucked from Benfica for an eye-watering £85 million, has yet to join Jurgen Klopp's team for pre-season after serving with Uruguay's national team last month. But Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is already preparing for Nunez to enter their training facility in Kirby after Van Dijk's comments following Liverpool's match with Benfica last term.
After arriving back in Merseyside, the midfielder told Liverpool's website he was eager to get to know his new Uruguayan teammate, saying: "Darwin was obviously someone we played against and personally observed, and I believe everything we witnessed during those matches reminded me slightly of Luis [Diaz], whom we faced off against when he was at Porto.
"He is the kind of player from whom you can predict the athleticism, speed, strength, and power you would receive, and it was the same with him. At one point, I had to pursue Luis back at Anfield, and he made me shift into fifth gear before attempting to shift into sixth to keep up.
Don't try to race him if I'm expecting to win, you sort of remember those things, and that was the first thing I remembered when he walked through the door. Darwin would probably behave similarly. I believe Virgil and Ibou [Ibrahima Konate] both directly attested to his quickness and strength.
As a striker or forward player, you sort of need to have that confidence to go out and do good things and lead the team from up there, and I think he had that confidence and swagger about him as well.
The 23-year-old had been a long-term priority for Klopp and company, and the Reds had to outbid Manchester United to capture him. Nunez scored 34 goals in all competitions last season, two of which came against Liverpool in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Prior to both games, Klopp made note of the striker's praise, and he would sign him just two months later. The Reds manager said liverpoolfc.com, "Darwin is a beautiful player; already incredibly good but so much potential to get even better."
"To be honest, that's why it's so exciting. His advanced age, his passion, and his thirst for improvement. His support for our endeavor and our goals as a club."
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