Darwin Nunez will be taking full advantage of the summer break after being left out of Uruguay’s squad for their June internationals. Liverpool’s No. 27 was unable to represent his country during the March international break due to injury and he will now be absent for the second time in a row. Marcelo Bielsa has named a young, experimental squad for the summer, leaving out players such as Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, Jose Maria Gimenez and former Liverpool target Manuel Ugarte. Nunez’s last involvement for his country came during the World Cup, with his final group appearance notching his 16th cap, though only nine have been as part of the starting XI.
Nunez missed the last three games of the season due to a toe injury, which played its part in the decision despite Nunez having returned to training prior to the trip to Southampton. He had “trained fully” in the lead-up to the Reds’ season finale but did not take his place in the matchday squad on the south coast. The Uruguayan’s debut season saw him have to clear a number of hurdles but a return of 15 goals and five assists is more than respectable, however he is not without areas for improvement. The biggest is to start mastering the English language, with Klopp then hoping the rest can quickly fall into place. Back in April, the manager said: “He has to learn English, that’s how it is, we can translate everything but in training sessions, we cannot have four languages translated.” Nunez will now have a six-week break before Liverpool return to pre-season on July 8 – a luxury also handed to Fabinho after his Brazil snub.