Darwin Nunez’s first pre-season tour with Liverpool has brought him more blisters than goals. A second half-hour outing was equally unproductive for him, even as his team rebounded from the 4-0 defeat to Manchester United by beating Crystal Palace 2-0, but it nevertheless offered a glimpse of why the £64 million forward has been signed and an indication of Jurgen Klopp’s attempts to integrate him.
Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah, who started and finished with the captain’s armband respectively, got the goals in Singapore. While Klopp used 31 players, after deploying 32 against United – this time, there were two more recognisable line-ups with the youngsters only emerging en masse for the final 15 minutes - it is notable that Nunez’s two cameos have come in the same forward line as Salah.
