{"id":32535,"date":"2025-04-19T09:06:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T09:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32535\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T09:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T09:06:11","slug":"arne-slot-responds-to-rumours-of-bust-up-with-darwin-nunez-after-liverpool-squad-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32535\/","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot responds to rumours of bust-up with Darwin Nunez after Liverpool squad absence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Arne Slot speaks out on rumours of a bust-up with Darwin Nunez after the Liverpool striker was left out of the squad for last week&#8217;s win over West Ham United<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_GettyImages-2202952882.jpg\" alt=\"PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 5: (L-R) Darwin Nunez of Liverpool , coach Arne Slot of Liverpool&#10; during the UEFA Champions League  match between Paris Saint Germain v Liverpool at the Parc des Princes on March 5, 2025 in Paris France (Photo by Rico Brouwer\/Soccrates\/Getty Images)\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Darwin Nunez speaks to Arne Slot before he comes on in Liverpool&#8217;s dramatic Champions League win at PSG(Image: Rico Brouwer\/Soccrates\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Arne Slot has denied rumours of a bust-up with Darwin Nunez, saying the Liverpool striker simply &#8220;didn&#8217;t feel himself&#8221; on the eve of Sunday&#8217;s win over West Ham United.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Nunez was not involved in the victory over the Hammers last week but was at <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/anfield\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Anfield<\/a> to watch the game from behind the substitutes&#8217; bench with Trent Alexander-Arnold, who could return to the match-day squad at Leicester City on Easter Sunday after training this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">After the team sheet revealed Nunez&#8217;s absence last week, there had been some speculation that the Uruguay international had been involved in a training-ground spat with a member of staff at the AXA Centre.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/arne-slot-lifts-lid-liverpool-31467289\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arne Slot lifts lid on Liverpool transfer plans with hint at &#8216;big summer&#8217; &#8211; &#8216;that I agree on&#8217;<\/a>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/arne-slot-makes-trent-alexander-31466991\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arne Slot makes Trent Alexander-Arnold feelings clear after Liverpool contract question<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Slot, though, hinted the No.9 was <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/arne-slot-reacts-virgil-van-31415281\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">simply unwell last weekend<\/a>, which meant he was unable to contribute against Graham Potter&#8217;s men and with the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/barclays-premier-league\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Premier League<\/a> leaders potentially able to clinch the title at the King Power Stadium, should Arsenal lose away to Ipswich Town, the head coach has confirmed <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/darwin-nunez\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Nunez<\/a> will be back in contention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;No, he didn&#8217;t [have a falling-out],&#8221; Slot said. &#8220;He did leave the pitch because he didn&#8217;t feel himself. [He left the pitch] as in he didn&#8217;t have words with a staff member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;He didn&#8217;t feel himself the day before the match, and he went inside and he wasn&#8217;t able to be part of the team the day after. That can mean multiple things, yes. He didn&#8217;t feel himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;He definitely will be [involved on Sunday].&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Slot also insisted that he while was realistic about the prospect of becoming a Premier League champion in his first season on Merseyside, he believes the stature of the club means it should not be considered such a major surprise that his team are on the cusp of a second title in five years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/arne-slot\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Slot<\/a> added: &#8220;You go to a club like Liverpool, where you feel there&#8217;s always an opportunity. But I also like to be realistic, and realistic was the two seasons before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Last season, they came closer than the season before, but last season, they only had <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/europa-league\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Europa League<\/a>, where the starters hardly ever played.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;So we knew we had the challenge of doing well in the Premier League, combined with the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/uefa-champions-league\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Champions League<\/a>, which was the season before, quite difficult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;But it&#8217;s not like I went to a club that has never competed for the number one position. So, yeah, it&#8217;s in your mind. But that&#8217;s not the first thing you think of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Your first thing is try to play good football, win as many games as you can, and then let&#8217;s see what comes from that in the league table.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;But it would be weird if I would say now, if you join <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/all-about\/liverpool-fc\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Liverpool<\/a>, oh, I&#8217;m completely surprised with the position we are in at the moment. Because this is not a strange position for this club to be in.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot speaks out on rumours of a bust-up with Darwin Nunez after the Liverpool striker was left&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[1121,748,8904,393,4884,179,763,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-32535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-arne-slot","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-darwin-nunez","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-liverpool-fc","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114363838360658668","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}