Topic: Darwin Núñez (Darwin Gabriel Núñez Ribeiro)

[mullyred94]

None of that is new except for the bit about against low blocks, he was still getting good quality shots off against even deep lying blocks. Also nearly all his goals are against the poorer sides.

His scored against City, Arsenal, United( average ), Real Madrid etc over his LFC career though?

Most of those were last season but still.

[Darren G]

There’s an interesting thread from 2 years ago (before we signed him) going around right now where someone did analysis on Darwin and pretty much all the flaws mentioned back then are applicable today. It’s mad how accurate it ended up being. Thread here: https://x.com/taistofcb/status/1514983927059996681?s=46

Christ. That's brutally prescient.

[PaleBlueDot]

There’s an interesting thread from 2 years ago (before we signed him) going around right now where someone did analysis on Darwin and pretty much all the flaws mentioned back then are applicable today. It’s mad how accurate it ended up being. Thread here: https://x.com/taistofcb/status/1514983927059996681?s=46

Damning.

[PEG2K]

There’s an interesting thread from 2 years ago (before we signed him) going around right now where someone did analysis on Darwin and pretty much all the flaws mentioned back then are applicable today. It’s mad how accurate it ended up being. Thread here: https://x.com/taistofcb/status/1514983927059996681?s=46

Wow. The guy is Nostra Damus.

One interesting bit in that thread (unfortunately the twitter link is dead now):

Despite what his assist numbers might suggest, he isn’t a huge creator

which is what I'm thinking all season: he's getting more assists than his playstyle and skill set suggest he should be. That's why he's overperforming his xA.

[killer-heels]

His scored against City, Arsenal, United( average ), Real Madrid etc over his LFC career though?

Most of those were last season but still.

I meant this season. He gets chances against lots of deep blocks though.

[PaleBlueDot]

Kinell.

I imagine Klopp and recruiters were aware of all his weaknesses and thought they can help him out with coaching. It's fair to say it has failed miserably. His link-up play has improved this season but the bottom line imo is that he's built for a transitional side rather than one facing low blocks every game.

Slot will have his work cut out for him trying to figure out how to incorporate Darwin into a potentially title winning team.

The recruitment probably knew, which is why they didn't want him. Edwards and co leaving at the time is making more and more sense.

[proudred]

Read the report.Absolute hit the nail on the head.
Shocking how he hasn't improved.
Would Edwards would have signed him ?

[Agent99]

Read the report.Absolute hit the nail on the head.
Shocking how he hasn't improved.
Would Edwards would have signed him ?

No. He wanted Nkunku and Lijnders and Klopp wanted Nunez.

[KC7]

We are very laboured in attack though. So many touches. That hasn't helped him. Elliott and Gakpo, both technically gifted, they overplay it alot.

Slot is much more about speed than Klopp according to those speaking about him (he loves flying wingers who take on their marker in one on ones). Diaz is the only one now still doing that for us, and he's looked by far the most dangerous.

The numbers of shots we have per game can make it look like we are wasting a hatful, but alot of those chances are not clear cut at all. If you hadnt watched today's game and seen the stats (28 shots to 11) you'd have thought "how did we not win that", and yet we didn't really test the keeper much; our two goals were howlers by them (gk weak hands, and an OG via 3 West Ham players). This ponderous attacking play isn't conducive to a player like Nunez, the more swift, direct play that Slot apparently demands is.

The midfield not having enough athleticism doesn't help matters either. Our whole game needs sped up. An athletic DM, Mac and Dom advanced in the 8s, two quick wingers, that would give the like of Nunez more to work with. He may not be the answer, but he definitely isn't the answer the way we are playing now.

[newterp]

Why are you arguing about him anymore this season?

It's over - anything he does the last 3 games don't matter.

Let's start with a clean slate next year and see what he can do.

[Eeyore]

The recruitment probably knew, which is why they didn't want him. Edwards and co leaving at the time is making more and more sense.

It is an absolute tragedy that we didn't sign Nkunku. Just think of how much fun he could have had with Thiago and Bajcetic in the treatment room.

[PaleBlueDot]

It is an absolute tragedy that we didn't sign Nkunku. Just think of how much fun he could have had with Thiago and Bajcetic in the treatment room.

Darwin has been the better signing in hindsight out the two of course. This is more about going against recruitment's wisdom than escaping the alternative.

Besides, Nkunku is a far superior footballer to Darwin injuries aside.

[Eeyore]

Darwin has been the better signing in hindsight out the two of course. This is more about going against recruitment's wisdom than escaping the alternative.

Besides, Nkunku is a far superior footballer to Darwin injuries aside.

How about when the recruitment team wanted to move on from Van Dijk was that a mistake?

As for Nkunku being a better footballer that is your opinion I happen to think it is bollocks. Give us a shout when Nkunku scores a goal for his Country.

[PaleBlueDot]

How about when the recruitment team wanted to move on from Van Dijk was that a mistake?

As for Nkunku being a better footballer that is your opinion I happen to think it is bollocks. Give us a shout when Nkunku scores a goal for his Country.

When did they want to move on Van Dijk? That's news to me.

Fine if you disagree (somehow), but what's him scoring for his country got to do with it? Not like he's got a crazy amount of caps.

[HeartAndSoul]

There’s an interesting thread from 2 years ago (before we signed him) going around right now where someone did analysis on Darwin and pretty much all the flaws mentioned back then are applicable today. It’s mad how accurate it ended up being. Thread here: https://x.com/taistofcb/status/1514983927059996681?s=46

Everything there is spot on and he hasn’t really improved on any of these aspects either. That’s a crazy assessment when he says there he felt like Nunez wouldn’t improve much further

[Buster Gonad]

Darwin has been the better signing in hindsight out the two of course. This is more about going against recruitment's wisdom than escaping the alternative.

Besides, Nkunku is a far superior footballer to Darwin injuries aside.

Worrying if Nkunku was the alternative  although we allegedly wanted Werner over Jota so our infallible data driven recruitment model seems to require dumb luck at times.

[killer-heels]

Worrying if Nkunku was the alternative  although we allegedly wanted Werner over Jota so our infallible data driven recruitment model seems to require dumb luck at times.

Nkunku didnt have a bad injury record until his last season at Leipzig (which is after when the nerds apparently recommended him) so at the time he would have still been seen as a good signing. Its basically after that summer that he has started to pick up injuries.

[Buster Gonad]

Nkunku didnt have a bad injury record until his last season at Leipzig (which is after when the nerds apparently recommended him) so at the time he would have still been seen as a good signing. Its basically after that summer that he has started to pick up injuries.

I think he's nothing special anyway mind you. We dodged the werner bullet luckily. I wonder what metric he beat Jota on. Ironically not getting injured is the only one I can think of

[Eeyore]

Nkunku didnt have a bad injury record until his last season at Leipzig (which is after when the nerds apparently recommended him) so at the time he would have still been seen as a good signing. Its basically after that summer that he has started to pick up injuries.

The issue though is whether he would have the physicality to cope in the Premier League. The other thing is he is a completely different kind of player to Nunez. For me he would have ended up in one of the wide positions or as a 10. 

[kop306]

you cant miss the amount of chances that darwin has

slott will want to bring in at least 2 forwards of his own this summer

[Keith Lard]

Hindsight is always 20/20.

If Nunez does brilliantly next year people will point to all the positive indicators with hindsight.

Inverse is also true. Utterly pointless

[mullyred94]

you cant miss the amount of chances that darwin has

slott will want to bring in at least 2 forwards of his own this summer

You'd more think if he is as good as he is hyped up to be that he'd think he can unlock Darwins potential.

10-20% more and his arguably one of the worlds best..

[wemmick]

Kinell.

I imagine Klopp and recruiters were aware of all his weaknesses and thought they can help him out with coaching. It's fair to say it has failed miserably. His link-up play has improved this season but the bottom line imo is that he's built for a transitional side rather than one facing low blocks every game.

Slot will have his work cut out for him trying to figure out how to incorporate Darwin into a potentially title winning team.

Not playing out from the back so slowly will help at a minimum.

[rscanderlech]

You'd more think if he is as good as he is hyped up to be that he'd think he can unlock Darwins potential.

10-20% more and his arguably one of the worlds best..

The issue is that his is not a case of doing each thing a little (10-20%) better linearly, it's a case of needing to massively improve (30-40%, let's say) on certain fundamentals.

I would love for it to happen and have a superstar forward, but we already ended up seeing the final two years of Klopp somewhat wasted due to having a lot of replacements of the old guard who are not quite at the required level. A team that was feared for its deadly finishing just as recently as a couple of years ago is now struggling to score goals.

Does Slot want to take that risk again? He will want to bring in at least one top forward anyway, and someone will surely have to make way in the starting lineup. That may not be Nunez, but with the way Diaz played today, it easily could be.

[Cormack Snr]

Out of interest how was Nunez at his previous club, I know it might of been against lesser teams but how did he approach goal scoring chances..

[mullyred94]

The issue is that his is not a case of doing each thing a little (10-20%) better linearly, it's a case of needing to massively improve (30-40%, let's say) on certain fundamentals.

I would love for it to happen and have a superstar forward, but we already ended up seeing the final two years of Klopp somewhat wasted due to having a lot of replacements of the old guard who are not quite at the required level. A team that was feared for its deadly finishing just as recently as a couple of years ago is now struggling to score goals.

Does Slot want to take that risk again? He will want to bring in at least one top forward anyway, and someone will surely have to make way in the starting lineup. That may not be Nunez, but with the way Diaz played today, it easily could be.

He has 19 goals and assists in the league, don't think theres that much improvement needed.

If his conversion rate lifted 10% for example he'd probably hit 30 combined easily would he not?

While his link up etc has been off lately people were praising him two months ago for the same thing.

[Darren G]

Hindsight is always 20/20.

If Nunez does brilliantly next year people will point to all the positive indicators with hindsight.

Inverse is also true. Utterly pointless

That report wasn't written in hindsight though.  It was written before he came to Liverpool and predicted with an alarming amount of accuracy what we would get from him.  Maybe he'll come good next season, but so far we've seen exactly what that report said we would. That's not hindsight, it's the very antithesis of it.

[Zlen]

Can someone copy that thread here please. Not everyone has Musks dumpster fire account.

[rscanderlech]

He has 19 goals and assists in the league, don't think theres that much improvement needed.

If his conversion rate lifted 10% for example he'd probably hit 30 combined easily would he not?

While his link up etc has been off lately people were praising him two months ago for the same thing.

I'm saying that he needs to improve a lot in specific aspects of his game, rather than improving a little in all aspects. I.e. first touch, decision-making when finishing, passing, and possibly one or two other things.

I am thinking from the point of view of a team that wants to return to 2018-2022 levels.

[stockdam]

I don’t think the club will sell. He may be better under a new shape and with some new players around him. Maybe I am an optimist but I still think there he is a decent player.

[Darren G]

Can someone copy that thread here please. Not everyone has Musks dumpster fire account.

This is the text (I think that it's all of it). There are a lot of tables and such too, but it would take an age to copy/paste all of that individually. Anyhow, for what it's worth:
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
Darwin Núñez is wanted by a bunch of top clubs & has been mentioned as a potential replacement for Lewandowski.

He isn’t a bad player & is useful in the right system, but there are too many red flags for him to function in a top side or his price tag to be justified.

[A Thread]
1:08 AM · Apr 16, 2022


Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
On paper he looks great: goals vs Ajax, Barca, Bayern & Liverpool, 24 goals in the league & 32 in all comps.

His movement is decent, he’s tall, physically strong & very quick.

It’s only when you take a closer look, the cracks in the facade will appear
From
reaction memes ➡️ @VideoReacts
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
The first major red flag that should send alarm bells ringing across major clubs, especially those that play possession-based football, is his sheer woefulness in possession.

Smarterscout only rates his Ball Retention Ability a 2 out of 99 (adjusted to Premier League standard)
Image
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Additionally, his passing is dreadful, which is worrying, if you, like most top teams, want your striker to be at least decent at link-up play.

Núñez only completes 11.7 passes p90 in the Primeira Liga.
That would put him in the bottom 10% among forwards in Europe’s top5 Leagues
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
His measly 9 completed passes p90 in the CL would even put him in the bottom 1%.
His 64.7% Pass Acc in the league would put him in the bottom 15%. And again, his 56.5% in the CL would put him in the bottom 1%.

Imagine a striker in a top side misplacing basically every 2nd pass…
Show more
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
As seen against Liverpool with his 2 disallowed goals, he has an extremely frustrating, Inzaghi-esque tendency to get caught offside basically every game [1.0 Offsides p90].

Since moving to Benfica last season, no player has been caught offside in the league more times than him
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
This demonstrates that, despite his game revolving around constantly making runs in behind, he doesn’t always time them that well.

And it’s questionable if he’d even have that many opportunities to run in behind in a possession-based top team, playing mostly against deep blocks
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
With his style of play & physical capabilities, he can be great in a pure counter attacking team, using his speed & directness in transition.
That’s why he has been so effective for Benfica in the CL this season.
But he simply won’t have that space to run into for most top sides
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Another major concern is just how limited he is technically, which is probably a result of him always being able to rely on his pace & strength.
His touch often lets him down [3.4 Unsucc. Touches p90].
He under hits passes & at times doesn’t get a clean connection when shooting
Image
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Along with his technique, his decision making, in particular in the final 3rd, can be quite hasty & generally suspect.
At times releasing the ball at the wrong time after decelerating.

Despite what his assist numbers might suggest, he isn’t a huge creator
https://twitter.com/Goncalovmmll/status/1512859791529500677/video/1
Show more
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Despite being 1.87m tall & strong, he doesn’t use his body that well & his hold-up play is inconsistent.

Whilst he scored a few uncontested headers, his heading technique isn’t perfect & his timing isn’t great.

He also only wins 1.1 Aerials p90 & has an Aerial Win Rate of 36.7%
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
A lot of those things point to the fact that he isn’t really a lone striker.

As shown by his heatmap, he loves to drift out wide & operate in the left channel.

Which is, why more often than not, he has been playing as part of a strike partnership or in off the left at Benfica
Show more
Image
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Another concern is his injury record.

With his explosive style of play, he’s prone to muscle injuries, missing games here & there.

Worryingly, since 2017 he had THREE major knee injuries (incl. surgery). The last forcing him to miss the last 2 months of 20/21 & the Copa América
Show more
Image

Whilst he scored 24 goals in the league this season, 4 of them were penalties & 3 of them came against Belenenses, when they played the game with just 9 men, most of them from the u23s & a GK playing in defense.
(The game was abandoned after 3 Belenenses players went off injured)

That brings us to the most obvious & major red flag with him.

He scored those 24 league goals from just 14.92 expected goals.

You don’t need to be an expert to know that this kind of finishing overperformance is incredibly unsustainable & won’t carry over to his next club

For context: Óscar Estupiñán (Guimaraes), accumulated 13.47 xG. His market value is €3.5m.

Yet apparently Núñez is valued at €70m+, for 1.45 xG more, for a better team in the same league.

Due to that crazy overperformance, the buying club will just pay a heavily inflated fee

Some will lazily say "he’s just a good finisher".

They haven’t seen his 1st season at Benfica (where he underperformed xG), or his finishing technique.

Everything points towards his current season being a statistical anomaly & a one-off.
Hence it would be crazy to sign him now

Obviously many people will point to him being just 22 years old (23 in June).

And I do think he can be effective in the right system.
West Ham would’ve been a great destination for him, as he isn’t too dissimilar to Michail Antonio & they could’ve built the system around him
But I don’t see him being integrated into a possession based side. At the very least you wouldn’t be getting the best out of him.

And his overall quality doesn’t justify a top club changing its style of play & building a system around him to cater to his very specific strengths
ince this season is such a fluke & he won’t completely change as a player, this might already be his best ever season goals-wise.
You’d be buying him when his price is highest.

Despite his age, I’m not sure his potential is all that much higher than the level he currently is at

[Zlen]

Thanks man.
That is scarilly accurate.

[Darren G]

Thanks man.
That is scarilly accurate.

Edited missed a lot of the most important stuff at the end. Added now.

[Mr Dilkington]

That thread makes some reasonable points but is on the whole a load of tosh. Which means it fits in quite well here.

[mikey_LFC]

Still a great player, just off form. It happens with strikers. Plenty of people questioned Mane, Salah and Firmino at various points in their Liverpool careers, they bounced back and so will Darwin.

He’s only now coming to the age when we signed those three so of course he’s more raw than what we’ve seen previously, but the skies the limit for his potential. Anyone writing him or his Liverpool career off now is a fool.

Luckily we have great options up top and we can switch him out, which will help him now and in the future. His game has come on already since joining and he’ll continue improving. I still think he’s going to go up a level or two in the next year or so. Like with many player’s people are quick to judge, but that can often lead to a player being discarded too soon. He’s not entered his peak yet, that will be a joy to behold.

[Eeyore]

That is incredibly funny. The piece complains about his lack of xG. Yet he has turned into an xG monster. It complains about his passing his pass completion this season is 72.5%. It complains about his chance creation when he is in the 97th percentile for assists.

It is as if he has never seen an old fashioned 9 whose job it was at Benfica to not get involved in the play and finish chances off. I wonder what he would think of Haaland.

[Mr Dilkington]

That is incredibly funny. The piece complains about his lack of xG. Yet he has turned into an xG monster. It complains about his passing his pass completion this season is 72.5%. It complains about his chance creation when he is in the 97th percentile for assists.

It is as if he has never seen an old fashioned 9 whose job it was at Benfica to not get involved in the play and finish chances off. I wonder what he would think of Haaland.

And people reading it and going 'wow this guy understands football'.

[Eeyore]

And people reading it and going 'wow this guy understands football'.

Nostradamus was what I was thinking.

The irony is that his post actually emphasises how much Nunez has improved.

[Darren G]

That is incredibly funny. The piece complains about his lack of xG. Yet he has turned into an xG monster. It complains about his passing his pass completion this season is 72.5%. It complains about his chance creation when he is in the 97th percentile for assists.

It is as if he has never seen an old fashioned 9 whose job it was at Benfica to not get involved in the play and finish chances off. I wonder what he would think of Haaland.

It says that despite his number of assists, that he isn't a huge creator, not that his assists themselves are low.  In addition, Nunez has the 252nd pass completion rate in the Premiership and the lowest in the team at 69.9% in the league this season.  The main point about Nunez that he makes regarding xG is that in the only high scoring season that Nunez has had, he has outperformed it greatly and says that is not sustainable, which has proven to be the case.  Nunez Xg in the Premier League this season is 15.7, so it's not that different from his final season at Benfica (14.92).

[plura]

This is the text (I think that it's all of it). There are a lot of tables and such too, but it would take an age to copy/paste all of that individually. Anyhow, for what it's worth:
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
Darwin Núñez is wanted by a bunch of top clubs & has been mentioned as a potential replacement for Lewandowski.

He isn’t a bad player & is useful in the right system, but there are too many red flags for him to function in a top side or his price tag to be justified.

[A Thread]
1:08 AM · Apr 16, 2022


Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
On paper he looks great: goals vs Ajax, Barca, Bayern & Liverpool, 24 goals in the league & 32 in all comps.

His movement is decent, he’s tall, physically strong & very quick.

It’s only when you take a closer look, the cracks in the facade will appear
From
reaction memes ➡️ @VideoReacts
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
The first major red flag that should send alarm bells ringing across major clubs, especially those that play possession-based football, is his sheer woefulness in possession.

Smarterscout only rates his Ball Retention Ability a 2 out of 99 (adjusted to Premier League standard)
Image
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Additionally, his passing is dreadful, which is worrying, if you, like most top teams, want your striker to be at least decent at link-up play.

Núñez only completes 11.7 passes p90 in the Primeira Liga.
That would put him in the bottom 10% among forwards in Europe’s top5 Leagues
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
His measly 9 completed passes p90 in the CL would even put him in the bottom 1%.
His 64.7% Pass Acc in the league would put him in the bottom 15%. And again, his 56.5% in the CL would put him in the bottom 1%.

Imagine a striker in a top side misplacing basically every 2nd pass…
Show more
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
As seen against Liverpool with his 2 disallowed goals, he has an extremely frustrating, Inzaghi-esque tendency to get caught offside basically every game [1.0 Offsides p90].

Since moving to Benfica last season, no player has been caught offside in the league more times than him
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
This demonstrates that, despite his game revolving around constantly making runs in behind, he doesn’t always time them that well.

And it’s questionable if he’d even have that many opportunities to run in behind in a possession-based top team, playing mostly against deep blocks
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
With his style of play & physical capabilities, he can be great in a pure counter attacking team, using his speed & directness in transition.
That’s why he has been so effective for Benfica in the CL this season.
But he simply won’t have that space to run into for most top sides
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Another major concern is just how limited he is technically, which is probably a result of him always being able to rely on his pace & strength.
His touch often lets him down [3.4 Unsucc. Touches p90].
He under hits passes & at times doesn’t get a clean connection when shooting
Image
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Along with his technique, his decision making, in particular in the final 3rd, can be quite hasty & generally suspect.
At times releasing the ball at the wrong time after decelerating.

Despite what his assist numbers might suggest, he isn’t a huge creator
https://twitter.com/Goncalovmmll/status/1512859791529500677/video/1
Show more
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Despite being 1.87m tall & strong, he doesn’t use his body that well & his hold-up play is inconsistent.

Whilst he scored a few uncontested headers, his heading technique isn’t perfect & his timing isn’t great.

He also only wins 1.1 Aerials p90 & has an Aerial Win Rate of 36.7%
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
A lot of those things point to the fact that he isn’t really a lone striker.

As shown by his heatmap, he loves to drift out wide & operate in the left channel.

Which is, why more often than not, he has been playing as part of a strike partnership or in off the left at Benfica
Show more
Image
Taísto
@TaistoFCB
·
Apr 16, 2022
Another concern is his injury record.

With his explosive style of play, he’s prone to muscle injuries, missing games here & there.

Worryingly, since 2017 he had THREE major knee injuries (incl. surgery). The last forcing him to miss the last 2 months of 20/21 & the Copa América
Show more
Image

Whilst he scored 24 goals in the league this season, 4 of them were penalties & 3 of them came against Belenenses, when they played the game with just 9 men, most of them from the u23s & a GK playing in defense.
(The game was abandoned after 3 Belenenses players went off injured)

That brings us to the most obvious & major red flag with him.

He scored those 24 league goals from just 14.92 expected goals.

You don’t need to be an expert to know that this kind of finishing overperformance is incredibly unsustainable & won’t carry over to his next club

For context: Óscar Estupiñán (Guimaraes), accumulated 13.47 xG. His market value is €3.5m.

Yet apparently Núñez is valued at €70m+, for 1.45 xG more, for a better team in the same league.

Due to that crazy overperformance, the buying club will just pay a heavily inflated fee

Some will lazily say "he’s just a good finisher".

They haven’t seen his 1st season at Benfica (where he underperformed xG), or his finishing technique.

Everything points towards his current season being a statistical anomaly & a one-off.
Hence it would be crazy to sign him now

Obviously many people will point to him being just 22 years old (23 in June).

And I do think he can be effective in the right system.
West Ham would’ve been a great destination for him, as he isn’t too dissimilar to Michail Antonio & they could’ve built the system around him
But I don’t see him being integrated into a possession based side. At the very least you wouldn’t be getting the best out of him.

And his overall quality doesn’t justify a top club changing its style of play & building a system around him to cater to his very specific strengths
ince this season is such a fluke & he won’t completely change as a player, this might already be his best ever season goals-wise.
You’d be buying him when his price is highest.

Despite his age, I’m not sure his potential is all that much higher than the level he currently is at

I’d say I would disagree with most of what’s said here. Or rather it’s highlighting the wrong negative sides of his football, the ones that’s not very relevant to focus one.

First I’m not sure if his possessions play is woeful. He’s not often involved in possession play. And that can be fine. Because he doesn’t have that role here. He’s a runner behind the line, not someone that drops deep to playmake.

Passing is not dreadful. At most times it’s ok, not smooth but ok. He can play some terrific passes combined with stiff leg passes that goes miles off.
They use amount of passes for data which I feels is the wrong one. As mentioned he’s not the type of player hugely involved in possession style football, more making runs and such. So number of passes completed per game is the wrong data type.

Also accurate passes should be lower when you are either making a run past defenders and trying to manage the ball, or being high up trying to control the ball with a defender tightly behind you. Once again not a data type is feel is that relevant.

Yeah I agree that being caught in offside was a bad part of his game. Haven’t looked at the data this season but I feel he’s improved here. Anyone that wants to correct me feel free to.

There’s doubt about his style of football suitable for a possession style of football and I’d agree to that. But looking at the amount of chances we’ve presided this season and the ones Darwin been involved with, and the previous season I just feel don’t that data is accurate here to describe his positives/negatives. He’s involved a huge number of changes we all know that.

Yes o agree there are some technical limitations, which I hope would be better.

But overall reading this comment just feels like a miss. The main problem with Darwin is his poor finishing. He’s never gonna be a Firmino type of player involved with the ball that’s much. He’s guy that stretched the defense with insanely good runs behind. The problem is that’s he kinda bad at finishing. If he could finish to the level of Halaand, Watkins, Isak, etc then he’d be on 25+ league goals by now.