Jurgen Klopp shot down rumours over Darwin Nunez’s future at Liverpool on Friday, dismissing the talk as “external speculation” as he defended the misfiring forward.
The Uruguayan has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season but has also missed 27 “big chances” in the Premier League, according to figures from the English top-flight.
Nunez, 24, wasted a clear chance after coming on as a substitute in a 4-2 win against Tottenham last weekend and has not scored in his past eight matches.
Reports this week have linked him with a move to Barcelona and his removal of Liverpool-related images from his Instagram account fuelled speculation over his future.
But Klopp, who has just two more games remaining as Liverpool boss, said there was no such talk within the club over the striker, whose contract runs until 2028.
“There’s no speculation, it must be external speculation because I don’t know about it,” he told reporters.
Klopp said Nunez had been “unlucky” in many situations but was still putting himself in positions to score.
“He’s doing everything right and then the ball still doesn’t go in and that’s really tough for a young man,” he said.
“It’s really tough and he knows about expectations. He has big expectations on himself.
“That’s all his problem is, that he’s that good that he is constantly in these moments, so obviously if he’s a little bit less good then he will not have chances and people say ‘that’s not great’.”
Liverpool, who travel to Aston Villa on Monday, still have a mathematical chance of winning the Premier League, but would need an unlikely double collapse from Arsenal and Manchester City.
Klopp said the win against Tottenham was “what we needed, what we wanted, what the people deserved to see” after a poor run of results that effectively ended their title hopes.
“If we are 100 percent honest, is that the season where we were the best team in the league?” he asked. “We had our moments, we played our best game in our history against Man City but didn’t win it.
“It’s always small margins. If you win these kind of games it can open up something. We didn’t win it and then in the first moment when it looks like we struggled slightly we got really punished for it.”
Klopp must avoid receiving a yellow card against Villa, which would mean he would be banned from the touchline for his final game in charge of the club next week, against Wolves at Anfield.
“I don’t need to (be on the touchline) but it would be cool,” he said. “I will try absolutely everything to not get involved in any kind of discussions.”
