A four-game international break four games into the new season is not ideal. Managers throughout the Premier League will be getting to know their new signings only to be forced to release them, hoping they don’t report back with injuries.
Jürgen Klopp’s thoughts on international breaks have been widely documented. The Liverpool manager is clearly not a fan.
“I hate international breaks,” Klopp famously declared in 2021 (via the Daily Mail).
On this particular case, you may understand if he’s irritated. His team was building momentum after going unbeaten to start the season and winning its past three games, and there were some extremely positive signs of growth, with the best performance so far coming in the final game against Aston Villa.
It will be frustrating to have to halt that development so soon, especially when Liverpool is showing signs of reverting to its best form, with Klopp’s message obviously getting through to his players.
The Liverpool manager, on the other hand, might not mind sending one of his players away for international service.
Darwin Nunez has had to wait for his chance this season, but following his match-winning cameo against Newcastle, he now has the centre berth in the front three.
He travels to South America in good shape, where he will gain his first experience working under another football genius, Marcelo Bielsa.
The former Leeds United manager took over as Uruguay manager earlier this year, although he was without Nunez for his first two games. The Argentine is now getting his first chance to work with the 24-year-old, but he’s already making an impression.
According to The Athletic, Nunez had previously taken calls from Bielsa before returning to his home nation. The Uruguayan manager has already informed the Liverpool striker about his position in the national squad, with Nunez set to lead the line against Chile on Saturday.
But it doesn’t stop there. According to the report, much of Bielsa’s conversations have been on “how Nunez can help the team rather than how the team can help Nunez.”
This is great news for Klopp. Much has been said regarding Nunez’s role at Liverpool, and how, due to his work rate, he may not fit the mold of a normal number nine for the German.
Critics suggest that Klopp should disregard this and focus on Nunez’s strengths as a goal scorer. There’s no reason he can’t do both, and Bielsa might be instrumental in turning him into that type of player.
Bielsa’s squads are known for working extremely hard, even in training. Patrick Bamford, a Leeds striker, experienced it at Elland Road.
“You’re very demanding. “I can’t lie,” Bamford admitted to BT Sport in 2022 (via HITC). “There are days when you want to dispute with him. When you can’t provide everything you want to, you feel irritated and bite your lower lip. He expected a lot from me, but it shows respect.”
That admiration resulted in Bamford’s best season as a striker under Bielsa’s instruction. Previously, he appeared to be one of the innumerable players who slipped into obscurity after suffering at the highest level. Bielsa, on the other hand, transformed him into one of his team’s linchpins, earning him his first senior England cap in 2021.
“He saw something in me that not many other coaches did,” Bamford told the Guardian the following year. Klopp will be hoping Bielsa has a similar impact on Nunez.
The Liverpool manager has already spoken about the difficulty of the striker’s lack of English fluency, but with his international coach giving a similar message in his native tongue, perhaps Klopp will finally get what he always wanted from Nunez.