"He is going to thrive on that" - Stewart Downing makes bold prediction about Liverpool forward

Former Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has made bold predictions regarding their summer signing Darwin Nunez.

The Reds have splashed a club-record fee of £85 million for the signing of the Uruguayan international, as per Sky Sports.

Stewart Downing has likened the 22-year-old striker to his former Liverpool teammate Luis Suarez.

The former England international has backed the Uruguayan to fit seamlessly into Jugen Klopp's system.

He told The Liverpool Echo:

“I think watching him, the fans will love him. He has that South America style about him.

“He’s a bit like a Suarez type of player and with the crosses coming in from both sides he is going to thrive on that and the service he is going to get."

“I just see him fitting in really well and Jurgen Klopp very rarely buys players that don’t fit into the way he wants to play."

Downing has claimed that Nunez will offer a new dimension going forward in comparison to Sadio Mane, who has left for Bayern Munich.

The 37-year-old has insisted he could benefit from having a fantastic start to his Liverpool career. He added:

"I just think he will be a great signing and he is a lot different to Mane. But you need different ways of playing and different dimensions.

“I think he will be a fans’ favourite, just the way he plays, 100% the fans will love that and it will be nice if he gets a couple of goals early on, especially at Anfield to get his confidence up.

“That’s what happened with Salah and Mane, they got off to good starts and their careers took off and you hope he does well. He looks like a fantastic player from what I have seen.”

---

Liverpool could see a significant change in their tactics this season

With the arrival of Darwin Nunez, Jurgen Klopp is expected to oversee a significant change in his system.

The Merseysiders have mostly operated without a natural number nine over the last few years under the German.

Nunez might be an all-action center forward. It is highly unlikely that Klopp will look to use him as a false nine or as an inverted wide forward.

We could see the Liverpool manager reverting to a 4-2-3-1 system that he used at Borussia Dortmund rather than his preferred 4-3-3 system at Anfield.