Darwin Nunez has revealed that his Uruguay team-mate Luis Suarez rang him to offer some advice after the new Liverpool signing was sent off in his second Premier League appearance.
Suarez, who spent three-and-a-half seasons at Anfield earlier in his career, told Nunez to “listen to an idiot like me” and urged him not to repeat his mistake after the youngster was dismissed for a headbutt.
Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez has revealed that his Uruguay team-mate, former Reds striker Luis Suarez, offered him advice about life in the Premier League after Nunez was sent off early in the season. The 23-year-old arrived at Anfield in a club record £85 million deal in June, but got off to a difficult start at his new club.
After impressing with a goal and assist on his Premier League debut against Fulham, Nunez was sent off in his second league outing for losing his cool for a rambunctious headbutt on Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen. The incident resulted in a three-match ban that disrupted his start to life in England, but the striker says he received a helpful call from fellow Uruguayan Suarez, who had a hugely successful spell at Anfield between 2011 and 2014.
“It was a good thing because not many would bother themselves to pick up the phone and send you a message. I think his gesture was really important for me,” Nunez told ESPN.
“Luis is a reference point, an idol everywhere in the world. I’m getting started, I’m young, and he knows about all those things because he already played in the Premier League with Liverpool.
“Luis told me that these things will happen in every game in the Premier League, that they’ll come and find me, that they’re going to bump into me, and that I need to make myself strong and not repeat my screw-up.
“He said: ‘Listen to an idiot like me.’ I really appreciate that message and the fondness he has for me.”
Nunez rhas lately been in appreciably good form, scoring four goals in five games in October between the Champions League and Premier League. The 13-time Uruguay international is most likely to feature at the World Cup for Uruguay next month, possibly alongside Suarez up front, as they did in a 2-0 friendly win over Canada in September.
Uruguay are in Group H alongside South Korea, Portugal and Ghana.