Has Jurgen Klopp shelved Liverpool's Darwin Nunez experiment?

When Liverpool signed Darwin Nunez for a potential club record fee last summer, it was safe to assume that the Uruguayan was viewed as Liverpool's new attacking centre-piece.

Nunez's signing, following on from Luis Diaz's arrival six months earlier and Sadio Mane's departure, presented a new era for Liverpool's attack.

With Manchester City having also signed Erling Haaland, it signalled Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola both moving to a more traditional No.9; less involved in build-up play, more involved in finishing in and around the box.

It was a significant tactical change. But it has only worked for one club and we all know who that is.

While Haaland was breaking Mo Salah's record for most goals in a 38-game season on Wednesday night, Nunez was warming the bench for the fourth game in a row.

In fact, the 23-year-old has been reduced to fifth-choice attacker at Anfield, with the returning Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz now ahead of him.

Gakpo the new Firmino

The January arrival of Cody Gakpo was viewed at the time as being a reaction to the long-term absences of Jota and Diaz, a player to play on the left of Liverpool's attack.

However, it quickly became apparent that there was a different plan among the Liverpool coaching staff and the Dutchman has been played almost exclusively in the centre-forward role, becoming the de facto new Roberto Firmino.

Gakpo's style is far more Firmino-like and what Liverpool have played during their successes under Klopp. He drops deep, he can link play and hold up the ball. Crucially, though, he also does the work off the ball that Klopp demands.

Klopp's multiple warnings

With the return to fitness of Jota and Diaz this month, Klopp has not only reduced Nunez's playing time – he'd started eight in a row before Diaz returned – but also dropped a lot of hints about where the former Benfica player must improve.

Among them is his pressing, his work rate off the ball, his work rate in training, and his understanding of English.

As Liverpool have gone on their best run of form in a wildly underperforming season, unbeaten in five, winning three in a row, Klopp has repeatedly explained this improvement as being down to the counter-pressing of his side, especially when explaining Jota's inclusion.

"The ticket into this team must be, and will definitely be again, counter-pressing," explained Klopp. "That’s how everything started."

If that doesn't quite stand out enough as a hint to Nunez, the follow-up might:

"All five [attackers] now available can do that [counter-press] pretty well, but if you do it in the game you play, you have a good chance to start again."

That Nunez went eight starts in a row then was dropped shows what Klopp thinks there.

There was another hint at the issue when discussing the work rate off the ball to win the ball back: "the ticket will be the desire to win the ball back after we lost it."

"We need players defending collectively," Klopp has stated.

Next up was Klopp's rather straight-to-the-point declaration on the language barrier: "He is still adapting. His English is still not great, if not existing at all. We are working on that, massively.

"He has to learn English, that’s how it is, we can translate everything but in training sessions, we cannot have four languages translated."

How about in training then? Well, Klopp's hinted at the issue there, too: "The door is miles open but the more sessions we have, the more sessions you have to show up."

Shelved for the short or long term?

So is the Nunez experiment over? It's hard to say at this early juncture, but in order to return to the plan of Nunez as the centre forward a lot will need to change.

"It definitely needs a specific setup so he can play and defend in the centre," admitted Klopp this month.

"Playing in the centre is not a problem, he’s a machine, but then we have to make sure that we understand [it] as a team."

Therein appears to be the issue. Nunez isn't the problem necessarily, but how he fits in the framework of this Liverpool team under Klopp doesn't work – at least at the moment.

"On top of all the problems [this season], you have to adapt to a different defending striker up front as well," says Klopp.

So has Klopp temporarily or permanently shelved the Nunez plan?

It would take quite a change again this summer to get Nunez back into the side as the leading centre forward, needing new midfielders and new understanding, methods being implemented during what will be a longer pre-season than last summer.

But then where would that leave Gakpo, who has very successfully slotted into the No.9 role as Firmino's successor?

Or does Klopp attempt to turn Nunez into a wide player instead, competing with Diaz on the left, leaving Gakpo and Jota as his main central options?

For the time being at least, Nunez is a prime example of how Liverpool cannot afford to make a mistake in the transfer market.