Former Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt is confident that Darwin Nunez's fate at Anfield is in his hands despite a difficult season.
The Uruguayan international has scored just seven goals for the Reds and has received both praise and criticism from manager Arne Slot for his performances on the pitch.
Mohamed Salah has led Liverpool to the Premier League title again, scoring 32 goals in all competitions, but his contract expires in June and with no sign of a solution, major changes could be coming this summer.
Potential new strikers have already been the subject of trade rumours with Nunez a possibility, and Kuyt noted that this is part of the reality of playing for the club.
“I became friends with Pepe Reina and after my first season he congratulated me on my year at Liverpool and said: 'Actually, every year you stay at Liverpool is your own championship,'” he told the PA news agency ahead of his appearance for the Liverpool Legends against Chelsea at Anfield on Saturday.
“Not only do the players who play there try to push you out of the team, but every year someone new comes in to take your position.
“I played my first season with (Craig) Bellamy and (Peter) Crouch, was top scorer and thought, 'I'll be fine next season', and then the club signed Fernando Torres.
“To stay at Liverpool you have to be in top form at all times and every player has to perform at a high level every day and you know that if you don’t do well there will be another player ready to take your place.
“If you know Arne Sloth even a little bit, every day he will try to push Darwin to get the best out of him and he will never stop doing that and then it is up to the player to decide whether he will perform or not because he will have to prove himself.
“When you have a teammate like Mo Salah – or Fernando Torres in my time – and these guys make scoring goals so easy, all the fans want you to score as many goals as possible too.
“Darwin works really hard, sometimes he gets it done and sometimes he doesn’t score the goals he wants to score and that makes it difficult because the pressure is on
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
