Klopp dismisses rumors about Nunez’s future at Liverpool – Naharnet

Jurgen Klopp on Friday debunked rumors about Darwin Nunez’s future at Liverpool, dismissing the talk as ‘external speculation’ as he defended the failed striker.

The Uruguayan has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season, but also missed 27 “big chances” in the Premier League, according to figures from the English top flight.

Nunez, 24, missed a clear opportunity after coming on as a substitute in the 4-2 win against Tottenham last weekend and has not scored in his past eight games.

Reports this week have linked him with a move to Barcelona and the removal of Liverpool-related images from his Instagram account fueled speculation about his future.

But Klopp, who has just two games left as Liverpool boss, said there were no such talks within the club over the striker, whose contract runs until 2028.

“There is no speculation, it must be external speculation because I don’t know anything about it,” he told reporters.

Klopp said Nunez had been “unlucky” in many situations but still put himself in positions to score.

“He does everything right and then the ball still doesn’t go in and that’s very tough for a young man,” he said.

“It’s very tough and he knows the expectations. He has great expectations of himself.

“That’s the only problem he has: that he’s only as good as he is consistently at these times. If he’s a little less good, obviously he won’t get opportunities and people say ‘that’s not great’.”

Liverpool, who travel to Aston Villa on Monday, still have a mathematical chance of winning the Premier League but would need an unlikely double collapse of Arsenal and Manchester City.

Klopp said the win against Tottenham was “what we needed, what we wanted, what people deserved to see” after a poor run of results that effectively ended their title hopes.

“If we are 100 percent honest, is that the season in which we were the best team in the league?” he asked. “We had our moments, we played our best game in our history against Man City, but we didn’t win it.

“It’s always small margins. When you win these kinds of games it can mean something. We didn’t win it and at the first moment, when it looked like we were struggling a bit, we were really punished for it.”

Klopp must avoid receiving a yellow card against Villa, which would mean he is ruled out of the sidelines for his final game in charge of the club against Wolves at Anfield next week.

“I don’t need to be on the sidelines, but it would be cool,” he said. “I will try absolutely everything not to get involved in any kind of discussion.”