Darwin Núñez lifts lid on Luis Suárez advice amid Liverpool transfer speculation

Liverpool striker Darwin Núñez has endured another difficult season in the Premier League. The Reds' most expensive striker started the season brightly, but in the second half of the campaign has dropped off.

Núñez has scored 11 league goals this season, but only six of them have come in 2024. Moreover, nobody has missed more 'big' chances in Europe's top-five leagues this season than Liverpool's number nine (via The Daily Mail), and the pressure is building on the Uruguayan, considering the money Liverpool paid for him in the summer of 2022 to sign him from Benfica.

Núñez hasn't scored in his last eight appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, a run stretching back to early April. That form has led to the 24-year-old falling down the pecking order at Anfield, a situation that he seems to be far from happy with.

READ MORE: Can Liverpool still win Premier League? Fate confirmed after Man City win

READ MORE: Pep Lijnders reveals extraordinary Jürgen Klopp decision before Liverpool Champions League final

Fans spotted this week that Núñez had deleted all of his Liverpool-related pictures from his Instagram account. What's more, the striker has been linked with a move away from Anfield in the summer, with Spanish outlet Sport claiming Barcelona is looking at him as a possible option.

Jürgen Klopp has since played down the speculation, although questions remain over Núñez's future once the German departs. An interview conducted with the striker this week for ESPN Uruguay has now emerged, in which he details some of the advice he has received from his idol, former Liverpool forward Luis Suárez.

Núñez said of his relationship with Suárez: “Off the field, we have a very good bond, I always follow him because Luis is an idol for me, and he also advizes me a lot.

“For example, the time the headbutt thing happened (against Crystal Palace when Núñez was sent off in his second Premier League game after an altercation with Joachim Andersen), Luis was the first to write to me.

“‘You idiot, don’t do that, another idiot is talking to you and he’s done it a thousand times,’ he told me. With Luis, we created a very nice bond.”

Suárez, of course, wasn't without his own struggles in English football. He was banned for 10 games after biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in 2013. Moreover, he was at the center of a race row with Patrice Evra of Manchester United in 2011, which also led to a multi-game ban.

Despite those struggles, Suárez was a massive success in English football and with Liverpool, scoring 69 Premier League goals in 110 games and coming so close to winning a league title with Liverpool in 2013-14, before leaving to join Barcelona.

Núñez will be hoping that he eventually comes close to emulating his idol at Anfield. Núñez to date has scored 33 goals from 94 appearances in all competitions, and provided 17 assists.

Liverpool.com says: It's good that Núñez is listening to Suárez and taking on board his advice. Liverpool might hope he doesn't take too much advice from him though. After all, Suárez did urge Bracelona to sign him a few years ago.