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Topics: Darwin Nunez, Liverpool, Adebayo Akinfenwa
Chris Stonadge
Football League legend and Liverpool fan Adebayo Akinfenwa has backed new signing Darwin Nunez to score at least 18 goals this season.
The Uruguayan joined the Reds from Benfica for a club record fee after scoring 26 goals in 28 Premeira Liga matches last season.
A £68m price tag comes with great responsibility and scrutiny, however , which Nunez has certainly endured in his 60 minutes on-field this pre-season.
He missed several chances against Manchester United and Crystal Palace, and came under huge criticism from rival clubs’ fans on social media, but Akinfenwa believes that Nunez will be a success at Anfield.
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“Don’t even worry about him."
“[Jurgen] Klopp, for me, Klopp don’t really miss and he hasn’t really missed with the players that he’s brought in. So I’m not really too worried about it."
“I’m not as much as saying [he’ll score] 25 goals because I think [Mohamed] Salah’s the one who gets us our goals like that."
"I don’t mind if he gets 18 goals, he’ll get 18 goals.”
Nunez is, as Akinfenwa stated, not alone in his quest to score goals for the Reds.
Three-time golden boot winner Salah’s almost inevitable numbers will ease the pressure on him to begin with, in addition to the likely goal-scoring exploits of Diogo Jota and, soon, Luis Diaz.
An 18-goal season would surpass Luis Suarez’s first full campaign at Liverpool, in which Nunez’s compatriot bagged 17 goals in all competitions.
Akinfenwa is commonly known as the world’s strongest footballer and played for two decades in the football league.
He featured for a plethora of different clubs during his career, but enjoyed arguably his most fruitful spell in his twilight years, in which he spent six at Wycombe Wanderers.
Akinfenwa received a call from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after his Wycombe side won promotion to the Championship.
His endorsement is another to add to a long list of support for Nunez, who will look to score his first Reds goal this Thursday as they face RB Leipzig.