Comparisons between Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland and Liverpool's £85m striker Darwin Nunez are 'unfair', according to Nunez's teammate Andy Robertson.
The pair were naturally compared in the summer, with Haaland joining City for £51m, and Nunez costng up to £85m for Liverpool as both title rivals spent big on strengthening their attacks. When Nunez enjoyed a good pre-season and then scored in Liverpool's Community Shield win over City - and Haaland didn't - there were plenty of suggestions that Nunez would be the better purchase.
However, since that game, Haaland hasn't looked back, scoring 22 goals in 16 appearances, failing to find the net on just three occasions. Nunez has six goals in 13 appearances, although a three-match ban for a headbutt slowed his progress, and he has started only three league games.
According to Robertson, comparing the two players is unfair, as he backed Nunez to improve as he becomes more comfortable on Merseyside.
He said: “The only reason they are getting compared is because they play in the same position and moved in the same window. It is not fair on anyone. If it was vice-versa, it would not be fair on Haaland either. So look, they are two incredible players and we are delighted to have Darwin here. He is still young which everyone forgets and in front of goal he has been really clinical.
“He has maybe not played as many minutes with the three-game ban, a couple of injuries and he is still adapting but he is getting there. Against Ajax [in the Champions League], you could really see what his threats are and he caused them a lot of problems and they were already worried about him.”
“There is a language barrier but you can see he is a nice guy. He is trying with his English and you respect that so much.”