Jurgen Klopp provided an update on Darwin Nunez (£8.7m) in Monday’s pre-match press conference, ahead of Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
The Uruguayan striker was substituted after 58 minutes of the Reds’ 2-0 win at Newcastle United on Saturday, having been troubled by a shoulder injury.
The issue raised fears that he might miss Double Gameweek 25 but Klopp didn’t seem overly concerned in his presser on Monday, even saying Darwin “had a chance” of facing Real Madrid the following day.
“There’s a chance. From all the possible scenarios apart from being absolutely nothing – that’s not the case – we have to see how he can deal with the pain and when we know that, we can make a decision.” – Jurgen Klopp on Darwin Nunez’s chances of featuring against Real Madrid on Tuesday
The striker has since been pictured in training.
Darwin is the second-most-bought FPL forward of Gameweek 25 at the time of writing, with not far off 80,000 transfers in.
LIVERPOOL’S DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 25
Darwin, Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) and Cody Gakpo (£7.7m) have been used as Liverpool’s front three over the past few weeks but the return to fitness of Diogo Jota (£8.8m) and Roberto Firmino (£8.0m), not to mention a busy schedule, has added a bit of rotation risk as we approach Double Gameweek 25.
Jota and Firmino have been gradually reintroduced into the first-team fold after their lay-offs, handed cameos in last Monday’s Merseyside derby before getting half an hour each at St James’ Park.
They may have a further opportunity to boost their match-fitness levels at Anfield in midweek.
The good news on the FPL front is that the imminent schedule is not as bad as it could have been, with the Tuesday-Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday turnaround allowing for three rest days in between games.
- Tuesday 21 February: Champions League, round of 16 – Real Madrid (h)
- Saturday 25 February: Gameweek 25 – Crystal Palace (a)
- Wednesday 1 March: Gameweek 25 – Wolverhampton Wanderers (h)
- Sunday 5 March: Gameweek 26 – Manchester United (h)
Klopp has previously (and repeatedly) complained about Wednesday-Saturday lunchtime fixture pairings before, so at least we don’t have any of those on either side of Double Gameweek 25. As a result, fatigue and the “red zone” might not be the consideration they could have been.
But it’s a partial numbers game regarding Darwin’s potential availability and that of Jota and Firmino, with extra bodies in attack adding to the possibility, however slim or significant, of rotation.
We haven’t touched on other players who can play in attack, as Harvey Elliott (£4.9m) has recently.
All eyes will be on Tuesday’s European action, then, to see if Darwin recovers and if Jota and Firmino are deemed any closer to being ready to start a competitive game.
Until then, the Uruguay international remains in ‘don’t buy, don’t sell’ limbo.
