Virgil van Dijk: Darwin Nunez vindicating big-money move

Virgil van Dijk believes striker Darwin Nunez is starting to realise the potential which persuaded Liverpool to spend a possible club-record transfer fee on him.

The Uruguay international endured a testing start to life at Anfield and although he scored 16 goals, the feeling remained he had underperformed.

He has already played a significant part this season, scoring two late goals as a substitute to beat Newcastle, and with Mohamed Salah on the bench he took responsibility for equalising through a penalty in their eventual 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria.

Nunez has three goals and two assists this season but his all-round influence has been felt more than just from that contribution.

The Uruguayan, who had missed a couple of earlier chances but was denied a certain goal by a brilliant point-blank save by goalkeeper Tobias Lawal in the first half, also played a role in the second goal with his hold-up play on the halfway line.

Liverpool's captain believes the 24-year-old is developing into the striker they hoped they were getting when they paid Benfica an initial €73m, which could rise to €98m, last summer.

"Everyone has a role to play whether you start or not. Everyone has now seen the potential and the quality he has.

"Against LASK Darwin was important with the goal. Long may it continue, and with the other boys as well.

"Up front, the competition is quite good. They all have to push each other and it’s good to see."

One of those "other boys" – quite literally – was Ben Doak who became Liverpool’s fourth-youngest European player with his first start at the age of 17 years and 314 days.

The young Scot was given a run in Salah’s right-wing position and showed flashes of his talent despite being starved of