Jürgen Klopp reassures Darwin Núñez after tough start to his Liverpool career

Jürgen Klopp has held talks with Darwin Núñez over the striker’s difficult start at Liverpool and assured the Uruguay international his adaptation has been hindered by the team’s inconsistent form.

Núñez has started only twice since signing from Benfica this summer for an initial £64m rising to a potential club record £85m. He scored in his first two appearances for Liverpool, against Manchester City in the Community Shield and on the opening day of the Premier League season at Fulham, only to collect a three-match ban for violent conduct on his full debut when head-butting the Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen.

Núñez has been on the bench for the past three matches and saw Klopp introduce Diogo Jota before him in Saturday’s draw with Brighton, when Liverpool dropped points for the fifth time in seven league games. Before a crucial phase of the season, with Liverpool hosting Rangers in the Champions League on Tuesday and visiting the league leaders Arsenal on Sunday, Klopp has reassured the 23-year-old his time will come.

The Liverpool manager said: “He’s good. Of course he’s still adapting. New players come in and everybody talks about them and wants them to shine immediately; that happens from time to time and sometimes not. Only yesterday we had a long talk with him through [assistant manager] Pep Lijnders, because my Portuguese is still not better. We just told him we are really calm. It’s really important in our situation that he isn’t looking like he is worrying or whatever.

“He didn’t start at the weekend because he came back from the internationals and had a hamstring problem. When you get this information from the medical department it gives you an idea of some kind of minutes he is allowed to play, and