Joel Matip has admitted he is relieved to see Darwin Nunez in a Liverpool shirt.
The Reds signed the striker from Benfica last month in a deal worth potentially up to £85million. Nunez then made his unofficial debut for Liverpool in their pre-season friendly defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday in Bangkok.
Matip faced off against the Uruguayan when Jurgen Klopp's side played Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals last season. Nunez scored twice across the two legs.
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And speaking after Liverpool landed in Singapore on Wednesday for the second part of their pre-season tour of the Far East, Matip spoke about what he expects to see from the new boy in a Reds shirt. And the centre-back went on to explain why he is relieved not to be on the opposition side to Nunez from now on.
"He made my life quite hard," Matip told Liverpoolfc.com . "So I'm really happy that he's wearing our shirt.
"A lot of quality and I'm looking forward to seeing him scoring goals for us. I think it's a different kind of speciality – physically, speed. And he will score goals, I'm absolutely sure. He will just give us an extra power player to really go for everything."
During the summer, Matip’s fellow defender Joe Gomez signed a new contract with the club. And Matip has expressed his delight at Gomez committing his future at Anfield.
"Over the years he did a brilliant job,” said Matip. “He's a brilliant person and I'm really happy. I'm also happy to have him a few more years alongside me.
"Of course we play for Liverpool and [having competition] should not be different. And with the amount of games we have, we will need everybody."
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