The Uruguayan may be a cult hero on the Kop but it's now painfully obvious that he's not good enough for a title-chasing team

In the dying seconds of Liverpool's rousing 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday, Darwin Nunez threw himself into a tackle on Jeremy Doku, preventing the winger from getting the ball into the Reds' six-yard box.

The Uruguayan then turned to the Kop and let out an almighty roar. The fans lapped it up, and they were singing his praises again after watching him clear the resulting corner and then sprint 50 metres to press City's defenders.

This was the good side of Nunez, the reason why so many Liverpool fans love him; the reason why they've stood by him and continued to believe that his strike-rate will eventually end up matching his work-rate. It's now painfully clear that it won't, though.

Just three nights after Nunez's encouraging cameo against City, he produced an all-too-familiar horror show that had even some of his staunchest supporters questioning their faith in the most frustrating forward in football.

Sky SportsTwo sides of Nunez on show at St. James' Park

On August 27, 2003, Nunez came off the bench at St. James' Park with Liverpool a goal and a man down to Newcastle. In the space of just 13 minutes, he turned the Premier League clash on its head with two fantastic finishes.

On that particular afternoon, Nunez looked like the player Liverpool thought they were buying from Benfica. He looked like a £64 million striker.

Upon his return to Tyneside on Wednesday evening, though, Nunez looked like one of the biggest wastes of money in the club's history.

Despite playing the entire game, Nunez had just 20 touches of the ball in the thrilling 3-3 draw with Newcastle – and lost it eight times. Such statistics would be forgivable if he were, like Erling Haaland, taking a significant percentage of the opportunities coming his way – but he's not.

AdvertisementGettyAlways arriving too late or going too early

Nunez had two 'big chances' during the game and failed to convert either. The way in which he completely missed the target with one shot from a central position just eight yards out was particularly embarrassing.

At one point, Cody Gakpo also got his head on a cross that Nick Pope completely misread and nodded the ball across an open goal.

Nunez didn't react in time to apply the finishing touch, which rather neatly summed up his time in the Premier League – a tale of missed opportunities and unnecessary offsides.

When he's not arriving too late, he's going too early. He just can't seem to get things right, at least not for any sustained or meaningful period of time.

Getty ImagesFailing to prove his worth

There was a feeling that Nunez would eventually come good. He unquestionably needed time to get to grips with exactly what Jurgen Klopp was asking of him, particularly when it came to Liverpool's pressing game.

There were also regular glimpses of what he was capable of, both in terms of scoring and creating goals. It wasn't just Liverpool fans defending Nunez either; plenty of top Premier League pundits could see his potential too.

After all, despite his erratic form, he was still impacting games here and there. And for all his flaws, he's still been directly involved in 54 goals for Liverpool, netting 35 himself.

However, while there is clearly a good striker in there, Liverpool quite literally can't afford to wait for him to emerge. Nunez has already had nearly two and half years to prove his worth – and the cold hard truth is that he's failed miserably.

Getty Images SportThe worst finisher in football?

For a forward, Nunez is an atrocious finisher, the worst operating at the very highest level of the game today.

Of the players to have scored more than 30 goals in all competitions across Europe's big five leagues since his arrival at Anfield in the summer of 2022, nobody has a lower shot conversion rate than Nunez (11.48 percent), meaning he essentially needs nine cracks at goal to score one.

Even more damningly, he scores less than a quarter (24.18%) of his 'Big Chances' – which is just abysmal when one considers that anything less than 40% is disappointing for a world-class attacker. For example, Mohamed Salah scores nearly half of the gilt-edged opportunities that come his way (48.65%).

So, it's terrifying for Liverpool fans to think that while the Egyptian's contract expires next summer, Nunez's runs until 2028.