"Very direct, quick and strong" - Virgil van Dijk names Liverpool player who has impressed him 

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk believes new signing Darwin Nunez could be a good signing for the Reds. He shared the problems he caused them last season in the Champions League and hopes he excels at Anfield.

The Merseysiders signed Nunez from Benfica earlier this summer for a club-record £85 million, including add-ons. While he has featured in both their matches in pre-season, he is yet to find the back of the net.

However, van Dijk isn't bothered by this, as he told The Athletic (via Sport Bible):

“We saw how good Darwin is when we played against Benfica last season. He’s a very talented striker- one for now and also one for the future. I just remember in the away leg, he tried to target Ibou (Ibrahima Konate) a bit more than me!"

The Dutchman admitted his disappointment at Sadio Mane leaving the club to join Bayern Munich but hopes Nunez will do well as his replacement.

The 31-year-old said:

“He did well. He caused a lot of problems for us as a team. Very direct, quick and strong. I was sad that Sadio (Mane) left us (for Bayern Munich), but we knew it was coming."

He added:

"He felt that it was time to move on and get a new challenge. We all respected that. The club reacted by getting Darwin in. Hopefully, he’s going to have a fantastic career at Liverpool.”

Nunez scored twice against Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season, which the Premier League side won 6-4 on aggregate. He scored 34 goals in total in 41 appearances in all competitions for Benfica last season.

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“I am not worried at all" - Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool's new recruit

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp also shared his confidence in Nunez after a rather disappointing couple of performances in the pre-season.

He said:

“I am not worried at all (about Nunez). The general judgement is 0.0 percent interesting. We all know it’s a joke, or a game for some people to pick out some situations where a player is not doing well."

The German added:

“The only really important thing, first and foremost, is how I judge the situation for the player. I couldn’t be more calm about it. I am completely convinced about his potential.”

Nunez will hope to get on the scoresheet to squash the criticism when Liverpool face RB Leipzig in their next friendly on Thursday, July 21.