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When Arne Slot was asked to pick his highlight of the season so far, he admitted he hoped the best is still to come for Liverpool as they look to clinch the Premier League title.

But he also included Darwin Nunez’s match-winning heroics off the bench against Brentford back in January.

"I can also come up with Brentford away: 90 minutes played, 0-0, Darwin Nunez scoring a goal,” Slot told Men in Blazers, in an interview given only days before the Reds could be crowned champions.



He has only claimed one assist over the same period too, for Harvey Elliott in the Champions League round-of-16 first-leg win over Paris Saint-Germain.

Making 15 appearances since his brace at the Gtech Community Stadium, rather than prove to be the moment that kickstarted his Liverpool season - coming at a time when Luis Diaz was being favoured out of position ahead of him in attack - it has instead potentially acted as the beginning of the end for Nunez.

He has started just three times since scoring twice against Brentford and ultimately since made more headlines for his actions off the pitch rather than on it.

Slot criticised his work-rate off the bench in meetings with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa in February, with the striker missing an open goal as Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park.

While Slot publicly questioned Nunez in his subsequent pre-match press conference following the trip to the Midlands, the player took to social media - and not for the first or last time.

Posting a picture of him celebrating after scoring against Brentford, he wrote: “Two three weeks ago, Darwin was the best, Darwin gave us the three points, but yesterday I was unlucky enough to miss a goal and I am once again the “worst” and the failure.

Watching on from behind the dugout, Slot was later called to deny claims Nunez had been dropped for a falling out with a member of staff.

While he was recalled to the matchday squad last weekend against Leicester, he was left unused as Liverpool pushed for a late winner - eventually coming courtesy of Alexander-Arnold.

In the meantime, reports from Portugal circulated claiming that the Reds were opting against starting Nunez as his next start would trigger a €5m payment to Benfica.

Slot would deny this at his pre-match press conference on Friday, while The ECHO understands, though, there is no suggestion the player is being omitted for financial reasons.

But that did not stop Nunez from seemingly responding on social media on Saturday morning, appearing to write in a now deleted tweet on X: “No wonder I didn’t play more, because the last game I started in the Premier League went well and suddenly…”

The post was deleted immediately, before a further ‘Good morning’ tweet alongside a selfie with Alexis Mac Allister and edits to his profile were made, but it was too late - his original post had been seen and the damage had been done.

Supporters were understandably unimpressed.

While he will depart Liverpool as a Premier League champion, he will have played little more than a bit-part role.

It is an obvious area Liverpool will look to improve in the summer.

Nunez will feel frustrated that he has not been awarded more starts by Slot, which could be demonstrated by his increasingly frequent social media activity