"I don’t think he’s done anything wrong" - Michael Owen makes big claims about Liverpool star despite slow start

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has jumped to the defense of new Reds signing Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan joined the Merseyside club in a €75 million move from Benfica this summer.

He was pitted against Manchester City's Erling Haaland before the start of the season. But the Norwegian has already defied all odds to race to 20 goals across competitions.

Nunez, meanwhile, scored his fourth goal for Jurgen Klopp's side in their 7-1 demolition of Rangers at Ibrox in the Champions League on October 12.

Speaking on BT Sport (via Mirror) ahead of the Rangers match, Owen claimed that Nunez will eventually come good and needs to be given time.

"I think he’s a stop-start start, he got a red card early in his career and you want to make a big impression with your new team," Owen said.

“Let's bear in mind, at the start of the season we were saying two big signings one at Man City, one at Liverpool, who’s going to score the most goals? At the moment it looks laughable because one is firing and one is finding his feet in the Premier League.

“A lot of people are writing him off or saying ‘ooh, I’m not sure about Liverpool’s new signing’. I don’t think he’s done anything wrong for Liverpool so far, he scored against Arsenal, he played fine [at home] against Rangers - a lot of chances."

Owen was again asked to give his opinion on Nunez's performance after the match, in reply to which he said:

"I think Nunez’s goal was important, I thought he was ragged today. I thought for the first hour, I love his movement, he makes galloping runs into the channels but his end product today was a little bit off. He needed that goal."

Darwin Nunez's season so far for Liverpool

Nunez made his professional debut for Liverpool in the 3-1 win over Manchester City in the FA Community Shield, where he scored a late goal. He also netted in his Premier League debut for the club, which came against Fulham.

However, the former Benfica striker was sent off in their next league clash against Crystal Palace and missed three subsequent league matches as a result.

He failed to score in four consecutive matches, but has now returned to goal-scoring form, netting against Arsenal and Rangers in successive matches. In 10 appearances for the Reds so far, he has four goals and an assist to show for.