Former Liverpool star would take ‘excellent’ Everton man over Darwin Nunez

Former Liverpool star Jose Enrique has been discussing Darwin Nunez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin ahead of this weekend’s Merseyside derby at Anfield. The Reds and Everton face off in Saturday’s early game, and the derby is set up to be an intriguing one.

Liverpool went into the international break on the back of a draw with Brighton and a defeat to Tottenham, while Everton picked up in form, winning two of their three Premier League outings before the break, also winning a Carabao Cup clash with Aston Villa.

The Reds will be favourites, particularly being at home, but they will need to lean on their attacking talent again, and that includes Darwin Nunez, who has improved significantly this season compared to last. The Liverpool man scored and assisted in midweek as Uruguay defeated Brazil in World Cup qualifying.

Still, former Red Jose Enrique would rather have Everton man Calvert-Lewin in his team than the Uruguayan. He told Grosvenor Sport: “Obviously, Liverpool fans are not going to like hearing this from me, but with both Darwin Nunez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin fully fit, I think I would take Calvert-Lewin. People seem to forget how good Calvert-Lewin is when he’s fully fit – he’s an excellent player.

“The way I see it – put Darwin Nunez in any world-class teams in the world and I don’t think he’s starts for most of them. However, if Calvert-Lewin could keep himself fit, I really believe he could be a starting number 9 for a world class team, that’s the kind of level I see from him.

“Even when Darwin Nunez is scoring goals for Liverpool, I still have my doubts about him as a player under Jurgen Klopp. I love him and think he would do well for loads of other teams who play counter-attacking football – he’s outstanding for that – but for a team that presses a lot like Liverpool do, I’m not so sure.”