Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez are not talented enough to play for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team.

Former Reds left-back Jose Enrique has harshly criticized both players, saying they are not good enough to play for championship-caliber teams.

Nunez paid £64 million plus add-ons to join Liverpool from Benfica in June 2022. He was criticized for blowing several excellent opportunities, but he nevertheless concluded his first campaign with 15 goals and 4 assists in 42 games. This season, he has improved those figures, having had a direct hand in 31 goals in 47 games.

Gakpo joined Anfield in the middle of the previous campaign, while Liverpool was resolving a minor injury crisis. But despite spending £37 million to transfer from PSV, the Dutchman has been in and out of the starting lineup this season, finishing with 14 goals and four assists in 47 games across all competitions.

”Darwin Nunez is simply not at the required level and he never has been,” Enrique told Grosvenor Sport. “He is a good player, I like him a lot and the fans love him, but he isn’t at the level of some of Liverpool’s best forwards from the past. He is a good player but he is not a Liverpool number nine.

“He could play for a lot of top teams in Europe, but he is not good enough for those that are challenging for trophies. Their old front three was one of the world’s best and now this current team only really has two goalscorers – Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota.

“Cody Gakpo is not a goalscorer and he won’t get you 20 goals every season like Sadio Mane and Salah did. Roberto Firmino wasn’t a player to score that many goals, but he gave you so much more outside of that. Darwin Nunez gets a lot of chances but misses them too frequently.”

The shocking declaration was made just a few days after Liverpool missed the opportunity to reclaim the top spot in the Premier League. Eberechi Eze’s goal in the first half of the Reds’ 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace on Sunday proved to be the difference, as Klopp’s team missed numerous opportunities.

Enrique added: “There is too much space opening up for other sides playing against Liverpool, but that is not the biggest problem. They are simply missing too many chances.

“It is not possible to win the Premier League when you miss as many chances as they do, especially when you aren’t too strong defensively and concede a lot of chances at your own end.”

Liverpool’s next game is on Thursday when they play in the Europa League away to Atalanta. The Reds will next go to Fulham, Everton across Stanley Park, and West Ham in three straight Premier League away games that might perhaps save their season.