Duncan Casey: In dressing rooms, the language barrier is very real

Darwin Nunez is right: Being unable to communicate in the working language of a team is an enormous hindrance to how well you can integrate

LANGUAGE BARRIER: Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez celebrates scoring their side’s third goal against Rangers last week. Pic: Steve Welsh/PA Wire

Darwin Nunez, Liverpool’s big summer signing, was the subject of some recent online ridicule. A quote was doing the rounds on social media: “The truth is, honestly, in the team talks (Klopp) gives, I don’t understand anything. I ask my teammates afterwards to find out what he said.” 

This drew a range of predictably simplistic responses from the armchair pundits. “You don’t need to speak English to find the goal, mate” and “spent 90 million on a striker that doesn’t know what’s going on!” offers the general gist of the intellectual depth on show.