Liverpool can further unearth new Kevin De Bruyne in 2024 as Darwin Núñez change can be decisive

Liverpool will expect several players to kick on in the new year. Jürgen Klopp’s version of Kevin De Bruyne is one while a Darwin Núñez change could be pivotal.

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Jürgen Klopp and Darwin Núñez will be hoping that Liverpool has a big 2024. (Image: Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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It’s been an up-and-down kind of year for Liverpool. The early months of 2023 saw hopes of salvaging Champions League football dwindle dramatically, ultimately creating a mountain that proved too hard to scale.

However, the increasingly inventive efforts to turn things around saw Jürgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders hit upon a new role for Trent Alexander-Arnold, coinciding in a major upturn in Liverpool’s fortunes. While it came too late for a top-four finish, it provided a much-needed air of rejuvenation.

That was supercharged by a summer of major change. Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner all moved on, as did Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta. That left a blank slate for an almost all-new midfield, and the additions have been exciting.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Roberto Firmino left too, meaning only Mohamed Salah remains from Klopp’s famous triumvirate. But Liverpool still has one of the division’s most potent attacks as it chases the first league crown of a new era, with other silverware still up for grabs too.

Who will step up to the plate to help the Reds win it? Who will become the key figures of Klopp’s ‘Liverpool 2.0′? Our writers have had a go at picking out the performers who will emerge as key figures in 2024.

Matt Addison – Dominik Szoboszlai

Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah are a given as key pillars of this Liverpool team (which is why the latter three need to be signed up to new contracts sooner rather than later — all three are currently tied down only to 2025). So the question is, who else will emerge?

Assuming that Alexander-Arnold continues to play the hybrid role, the obvious place for another talisman is in midfield. And that has been the case for a while: Liverpool’s original super team was functional in the center with the goals and flair coming from elsewhere.

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For that reason, I’m going with Dominik Szoboszlai. The early period of form he showed when he arrived at Anfield was just a glimpse of what could be to come for the Hungarian. Szoboszlai has all the qualities to be the ideal player in that Liverpool midfield and to become Klopp’s version of Kevin De Bruyne.

For me, the biggest change between the first great Klopp team and the second has to be in the middle of the pitch. The defense should remain built around Alisson and Van Dijk and the attack is centrally about Salah. In midfield is where we could see the biggest evolution, though. It should be Szoboszlai, not Alexander-Arnold, around which that is built.

James Martin – Harvey Elliott

Remarkably, Harvey Elliott is still only 20. Most players of his age at a big club like Liverpool would just now be starting to be talked about as potential breakout stars.

But Elliott has long since passed that point. Klopp has repeatedly hailed him since as among the club’s best performers prior to his serious injury, suffered while he was still a teenager. And after bouncing back from that, he was the very last player in the squad to miss a match for Liverpool last season, with the manager coming to rely on him.

This season has been a small step back in order to take a bound forward. Elliott has mostly taken on more of a substitute role. But he has often shone in these cameos, and is ramping up the pressure for more starts. Those could come in January, with Mohamed Salah away at AFCON.

James Findlater – Darwin Núñez

Mohamed Salah will always be a reliable source of goals, and there’s never really any concern with finding the back of the net for Liverpool. But the Egyptian can’t always be the Reds’ hero, and the responsibility will need to be shared.

Liverpool has of course now moved on from the famed trio of Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino. The latter duo’s replacements though aren’t quite as prolific.

And if Liverpool is to put in a serious title challenge, and potentially challenge for other silverware, this needs to be a huge few months for Darwin Núñez. He has seemingly emerged as the first-choice number nine for Jürgen Klopp, but he still looks to be a fair way off being the finished product.

He has undoubtedly improved his work off the ball, although he really needs to stop getting caught offside so much. Most importantly though, he just needs to improve in front of goal.

Given the chances he has had this season, his tally should be far better than what it is. If he can start putting away what should be simple chances for a top striker, Liverpool will have the makings of an unstoppable force.

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