How Darwin Nunez’s stats at Benfica compare with Luiz Suarez’s at Ajax

After joining Liverpool this summer, Darwin Nunez has followed in the footsteps of fellow Uruguayan Luis Suarez.

Suarez started his career at Nacional in his native Uruguay before heading to the Netherlands with Groningen in 2006. After just one season at Groningen, he caught the attention of Eredivisie giants Ajax and was snapped up in a €7.5million deal.

The striker quickly formed a fine partnership with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and scored 22 goals in his debut season before following that up with 28 goals in 2008-09.

He stepped up and managed to hit new heights following Huntelaar’s departure, scoring 49 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions in 2009-10 and winning the Dutch Football of the Year award.

Despite receiving a seven-match ban for biting PSV’s Otman Bakkal in November 2010, the forward was signed by Liverpool a few weeks later and quickly established himself as their new talisman.

Suarez scored 82 goals in 133 appearances for Liverpool and came within a whisker of the Premier League title in the 2013-14 season before leaving for Barcelona in a £75million deal.

Nunez grew up idolising Suarez and started his career at Uruguayan side Penarol before moving to Europe with Almeria, who were playing in Spain’s second tier.

Despite only spending one year in Spain, he did enough to impress Benfica and they spent a club-record €24million on the striker. Nunez had a bit of a difficult debut season at Benfica as he initially struggled to adapt to Portuguese football and also suffered with COVID-19.

But the 23-year-old then took his game up another level in 2021-22 and won the Primeira Liga Player of the Year award after scoring 26 goals in 28 league games.

He also caught the attention of Europe’s biggest clubs after scoring six Champions League goals and Liverpool won the race for his signature after agreeing to pay Benfica £85million.

“I’ve not had a chance to be in touch with him [Suarez] just yet,” Nunez told Liverpool’s official website after joining the club. “But I’m sure when everything comes out on social media, I’ll give him a call or I’ll send him a photo that I’ve taken where he’s there in the background in a picture.

‘I’ll send that to him and we’ll have a bit of a chat and I’ll ask him lots of questions so he can offer his support and help because he’s a real reference to me because he’s a Uruguayan footballer who made history at Liverpool.

“But, for sure, I’ll get the opportunity soon to call him and have a chat with him.”

Nunez is a year younger than Suarez was when he arrived at Anfield in 2011 but both forwards had already shown their potential.

We’ve taken a look at Suarez’s stats from his three-and-a-half years at Ajax and compared them with Nunez’s stats from his two years at Benfica.

 

Darwin Nunez

Games: 84

Starts: 60

Sub appearances: 24

Goals: 48

Assists: 16

Penalties scored: 6

Minutes per goal: 114.6

Minutes per non-penalty goal: 131.04

Minutes per goal or assist: 86

Trophies: N/A

Individual awards: 1 x Primeira Liga Player of the Year (2021-22), 1 x Primeira Liga top scorer (2021-22), 1 x CNID Footballer of the Year (2021-22)

 

Luis Suarez

Games: 157

Starts: 148

Sub appearances: 9

Goals: 111

Assists: 66

Penalties scored: 21

Minutes per goal: 117.9

Minutes per non-penalty goal: 145.5

Minutes per goal or assist: 73.9

Trophies: 1 x Eredivisie title (2010-11), 1 x KNVB Cup (2009-10)

Individual awards: 2 x Ajax Player of the Year (2008-09 and 2009-10), 1 x Dutch Footballer of the Year (2009-10), 1 x Eredivisie Golden Boot (2009-10)