When Liverpool announced the firm of £ 85 million of striker Darwin Núñez only one day after Erling Haaland joined Manchester City, it seemed that it could be the dawn of one of the great rivalries of the Premier League.
Two young men from the front of large money, largely and in reputation, ready to face face to face to shoot their sides to glory.
Only it never worked like this. Haaland began to run and never looked back, fired City to consecutive titles and picked up two gold boots in the process.
Núñez, on the other hand, is still fighting to show that he has what is needed. Haaland is the pillar of the city attack. Núñez has started less than half of the Liverpool League games since his arrival. He has shown glimpses of what he can do, but, very often, he shows what he cannot.
Nothing did more than his obvious failure in the Liverpool draw with Aston Villa when he opened a great opportunity on the bar with the open network, without guard and his mercy.
That is Núñez's frustrating, much of his game is excellent. It is fast and extends the play, its physicality causes constant chaos for opposition defenses and its movement is so good that it leads to goal positions more frequently than many other premiere strikers.
Darwin Núñez did it again against Aston Villa, losing a great opportunity when he should have scored for his team
The striker has become one of England's most wasteful strikers and opened on the bar with the goal to his mercy.
When Liverpool joined in 2022 with Erling Haaland, they seemed that they would have a great rivalry of all time
Only four players have accumulated more 'great opportunities' than Núñez, what statistics Gurus opts defines as an opportunity that a player must reasonably score, during his time at the club, Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Ollie Watkins and Alexander Isak.
However, all of them have played at least 1,000 more minutes than the league than the Liverpool striker. Haaland has played almost 50 more hours of the premiere football that Núñez; Watkins and Salah about 60 more.
Núñez is an elite getter. The problem is that, as it continues to show, it is anything but an elite finalist. Of those 67 great opportunities, 51 of them has been lost, more than three quarters, comfortable the worst rate of completion of any person with 20 goals from their debut.
Since his debut, only Dominic Calvert-Lewin has had a lower performance than his expected objectives (XG) as drastically as Núñez. The Liverpool leader has scored almost eight goals less than what he should have done based on the quality of his possibilities.
Of the 35 players to score 20 goals since Núñez and Haaland arrived at the Premier League, only two, Bruno Fernandes and Eberrechi Eze, none of the strikers who do not have a conversion rate worse than 11 percent of Núñez.
In general, Núñez obtains one in every nine shots. Isak and Haaland, meanwhile, score approximately one in four.
That is what turns them into world -class strikers.
A statistic made the rounds after Villa's game that Núñez has lost 0.99 great possibilities for 90 minutes since his league debut, most of any player. Interestingly, he was Haaland's second on the list at 0.95.
The city giant also misses one for a game, it is not just Núñez that the tramples of the caregivers.
Where that matters less for Haaland is that he generally buries the first one presented to him. And, if it does not, you will get another.
In the 23 games where Haaland has had a great opportunity, he has converted it 15 times. In the 25 games in which Núñez has had only one, 20 of them has been lost and Liverpool could not win half of the games. It matters more when Núñez fails.
So why is it lost more? On the one hand, Haaland is simply more precise. A look at his shooting maps during his time in their respective clubs shows that the city man is more capable of finding the corners when it matters while Núñez frequently shoots the goalkeeper directly, or loses the goal completely.
Haaland becomes regularly when he has a great opportunity and does not let the young ladies affect it
Núñez, however, does it: Arne Slot criticized his work rate after the lady against Villa
No one with 20 goals from the League since its arrival does it at a higher pace, with Núñez putting 39 percent of its shots, two out of five, whether wide, against the post or exaggerated.
Haaland keeps simple things. Núñez often seems confusing, in his thoughts and his technique. His infamous failure against Manchester United last season, in front of an open goal, could not decide whether to take advantage of it or square it and, in the end, he did not.
Núñez's failures seem to bother him more. Haaland is a robot. The lack of Núñez against Villa affected him so much that Arne Slot came out after the game to criticize how the striker's work rate fell after the opportunity.
However, what this lady also clouded was how much Núñez has improved this season.
Núñez has scored four goals in this term of an XG of … four. Its conversion rate is up to 15 percent, it is still not great, but better. Despite his villa they fail, he is turning around 43 percent of his great possibilities.
It still has a long way to go and sponge its lines in Villa Park seems to have delayed it once again.
Fortunately, for Núñez, Liverpool still has a healthy advantage at the top of the table. However, if you start narrowing, it is when the slot will need your strikers to be ruthless when it matters.