MY ACCOUNT
Jordan Henderson is excited by Darwin Nunez, who he feels brings “a new dimension” to Liverpool ahead of a likely debut against Manchester United.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Nunez and fellow new signing Fabio Carvalho are to be included in his squad to face United in Bangkok on Tuesday, as the Reds open their pre-season campaign.
Uruguay international forward Nunez was a high-profile arrival from Benfica in a deal that could reach a club-record £85million. He came in this off-season, with Sadio Mane leaving for Bayern Munich.
Nunez played against Liverpool in the Champions League last season and captain Henderson has already seen enough to believe the striker will make a big impact.
“Darwin performed well and scored in both games,” Henderson said ahead of the United clash.
“That is probably a big reason why we signed him, but also the recruitment staff will have watched him in plenty of other games and will have seen a lot of quality.
“Hopefully, he can settle in and hit the ground running. He is a new option, a new dimension for us with the way we play. We have got to adapt to that quickly and get used to it.
“Darwin certainly gives us a different option in the way he plays and is hopefully a huge player for us going forward. He can score goals, the staff will have seen a lot of quality and seen a very good player.
“He is settling in really well. Don’t get me wrong, it was his first proper session on Monday really, so [he] is still quite new into the group.
“But this group has shown in the past that it is easy to settle in quickly, he can already speak with some of the lads who speak Portuguese, but hopefully he can pick up English quickly.
“For us hopefully he can settle in and hit the ground running. Things move on, change, and hopefully we can adapt to that quickly.”
Henderson was sad to see Mane depart but believes the attacking unit is still in strong shape, with Luis Diaz having impressed since joining from Porto in January.
The midfielder added: “Sadio would be a big miss for anybody, he is a world-class player, for me one of the best forwards in the world, so it’s always going to be difficult losing him.
“We are sad to see him leave, but we wish him all the best. But you look at the forward line and it’s still very, very strong.
“We have brought new players in, but we also have world-class players who performed last season. Luis Diaz has come in and performed phenomenally well.
“Bobby [Roberto Firmino] coming back is a big bonus for us, he was injured for a large part of last season. We have plenty of options for sure.”
With the new season fast approaching – Liverpool open their competitive campaign against Manchester City in the Community Shield on July 30 – Henderson does not believe the title race will again be between only those two teams.
“I never think it will be just us and City,” he said. “Other teams strengthen.
“You look at Chelsea, they are strengthening, United will strengthen, Spurs will strengthen – they have done so quite a lot so far.
“You look at other teams who are also going to strengthen.
“Yes, we have bought some new players and hopefully they can help us going forward and freshen things up, but we have to keep doing what we have been doing for a large period of time.”
