Darwin Nunez’s struggles for Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season were well documented, as he went on a long goal drought and eventually lost his starting spot.

The Uruguayan only scored once in the Reds’ final 13 games of the season, and it was a strike he missed while charging down an attempted clearance from Sheffield United goalkeeper Ivo Grbic. In response to his lack of form, he would start only one of Liverpool’s final seven games of the season, having been withdrawn prematurely in three of his previous four appearances following his last goal against Sheffield United.

 After receiving backlash for one glaring miss in the 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the start of May, the striker deleted all Liverpool-related images from his Instagram account, limited who could comment, and blocked certain fan accounts.

Meanwhile, with Arne Slot succeeding Jurgen Klopp in the Reds’ dugout, his future has been the subject of increased speculation, despite reports that the Dutchman wants to keep the striker.

 While Nunez struggled for Liverpool in the Premier League, Europa League, and FA Cup, his international performance has been quite different.

He has established himself as first-choice for his country since joining the Reds for a club-record £85 million in the summer of 2022. And since that winter tournament in Qatar, he’s been in incredible form.

Nunez has earned eight caps since the beginning of last season, starting in attack on each occasion. Uruguay has won six and lost one of those matches, with the forward scoring nine goals and providing three assists in that span.

 Such form has not been hampered by his club struggles, with the striker, who turns 25 this week, breaking his goal drought with a hat-trick in an international friendly win over Mexico earlier this month. He’d then follow it up with a spectacular first-time volley against Panama in the early hours of Monday morning (UK time), securing Uruguay’s 3-1 Copa America victory.

Admittedly, it is a chance that fans will have seen him squander numerous times at Liverpool in the last two years. While he has 33 goals and 17 assists in 96 appearances across all competitions, only Erling Haaland has passed up more than 46 big chances in the Premier League during his Reds career.

However, Nunez of Uruguay is a completely different beast than the raw, inconsistent animal seen in Liverpool. He’s confident, happy, and has taken over the role of Uruguay’s main man from Reds legend Luis Suárez.

“I feel like my home is when I’m in the National Team,” he told Por la jersey (Channel 10 of Uruguay), as reported by ESPN earlier this year. “That’s when you get together with your teammates, you can talk to everyone, and you feel at ease with the National Team.

“My family is close too; Every time I go to the National Team I feel like I am at home.”

Clearly, Slot will need to find a way to make Liverpool feel just as welcoming to Nunez this season. But the striker is at least showing the right attitude in the face of the scrutiny, as evidenced by his mixed zone comments following Uruguay’s victory over Panama, even if he let his head drop at times last season.

“It’s all good when I can score goals,” he said after the match. “In the end, I’ll always miss my goals.

 “If I am going to make five or ten mistakes, I will try eleven times. That is what a striker needs to do. Don’t worry if he misses five; he needs to keep trying and never give up.

“If he gives up, nothing will work. So it’s always important to start with a win, and we all know that the first game of a tournament is always difficult, but we got the result this time, so we’re very happy, and we’ll try to grow from here.”

He commented on his volley, saying, “I did not expect it. I thought Maxi Araujo led it, but thankfully it stayed there. I didn’t think and just said, ‘Here I hit it’.”

Admittedly, such thinking may have let him down at times last season, as he was repeatedly denied in front of goal. It demonstrates how narrow the margins are between success and failure. However, when it clicks, instinctive players can explode.

Suarez has already drawn comparisons between himself and Nunez from his own early career, including his time at Liverpool.

“Since Darwin was in Penarol, I had been talking to him, through someone else,” he told old AUF TV, according to ESPN. “A game in which he scored three goals piqued my interest.

“At the time, it was said that he missed a lot of goals, but he also scored a lot. They criticized me for the same reason, but the important thing is that he always tried to succeed and never gave up.

“I’ve always seen special qualities in him. The forward must be ambitious, with a desire to improve and get ahead of him.”

Suarez understands what it takes to become an elite striker, having undergone his own transformation at Anfield. And he is clearly confident Nunez will follow in his footsteps, having previously stated that he is ‘one of the best centre forwards in the world’.

He has all the right characteristics, that much is clear. But now it is up to his new head coach, Slot, to help him put it all together for Liverpool. Nunez, who entered the Copa America with a nine-goal scoring streak, has at least provided the Dutchman with a solid foundation to build upon.