Ex-Red: Nunez has ‘two left feet’ and shouldn’t play ‘Football League never mind Premier League’ | OneFootball

Liverpool have had some very talented players in our history and also some who are not quite up to the level of what has come before, with one Ex-Red sharing thoughts on a former teammate.

Speaking on ‘The Football Historian Podcast’, David Raven said: “[Rafa Benitez] didn’t put me on [as sub], he put on on Antonio Nunez – he’s got two left feet!

“And that was me thinking, ‘I’m never going to play for this man here’.”

Before later in the episode adding about the Spaniard: “He was a lovely man, we roomed together a couple of times on the trips and he was a lovely fella, quiet, unassuming, Spanish lad.

“It was just when I seen him play I just couldn’t believe that he was playing at Liverpool, that sounds really bad for me to say that but I still can’t believe it. I don’t know, maybe that’s my judge of player.

“But he got injured in one of his first sessions just running down the line and no one was near him and he fell over and got injured and done his knee.

“And we, the younger lads, thought it was funny at the time and laughed but then realised he was actually seriously injured.

“We were like, ‘oh my God!’ and he was out for months, there was no one near him.

“He’s just one of them players, I think like he came from [Real] Madrid as well [as part of the Michael Owen deal] and I wonder whether that was part of the deal where Benitez had to play him to justify part of the move, I don’t know.

“Because he’s putting him on at times and this guy could not play football for me, like he couldn’t play.

“He’s not playing in the Football League, never mind in the Premier League, I don’t know – that’s my opinion.”

It’s certainly not the best review for a player who spent one season at Anfield, making 27 appearances and scoring once with zero assists.

Antonio Nunez scored once in 27 Liverpool appearances

(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Antonio Nunez arrived on Merseyside as part of the deal that saw Michael Owen move to Real Madrid and arrived alongside Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia and Josemi in 2004.

This Spanish revolution in L4 was of course led by new manager Rafa Benitez and the attacking midfielder who also operated on the right wing, blocked a pathway for some local academy talent.

For the former right back speaking here to have his opportunities curtailed because of a right winger that he didn’t think was up to the standard of Premier League football, certainly didn’t impress him at the time.

He was touted as one of the weirdest transfers of the club’s history and his quick drop down the leagues back in his home nation suggests that these comments are close to the truth.

With the boss at the time being the man who led us to Istanbul in 2005, we’ve seen from his recent comments about Xabi Alonso that he’s not upset to call players out when they’re in the wrong.

It would be interesting to see if the 64-year-old would still stand by completing this move for the man from the Bernabeu and whether he thinks too many opportunities were handed his way, in place of some of the younger lads produced by the academy.

You can view Raven’s comments on Nunez (from 19:13) via The Football Historian Podcast on YouTube:

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