Diogo Jota scored Liverpool's first Premier League goal under Arne Slot against Ipswich in August last year. And the Portuguese striker has only scored five more goals until the end of the season.
At that time, if he knew that Darwin Nunez had only scored 5 goals in the Premier League, no one would be sure that Liverpool could win the championship.
However, they are champions and are working to improve as summer signings such as Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have proven that.
Slot's incredible impact in his first season is creating the perfect foundation for the Dutch strategist to carry out his own ideas.
It will be interesting to see how those ideas take place, and perhaps the biggest changes will be made in attack. Especially with Liverpool adding Wirtz, a versatile and exciting player.
It is still unknown where Wirtz will play, but even if he does not come, the futures of Jota and Nunez will still be closely monitored in the upcoming season because their 2024-2025 campaign is not very impressive.
But as all eyes are on those who could leave Anfield following a series of acquisitions, Jota and Nunez are going through very different situations.
Nunez is a target of strong interest to Napoli as the Serie A champions are willing to pay up to 60 million pounds to the Uruguayan player. Nunez has scored 40 goals in 143 appearances for Liverpool.
There is no denying that Nunez has not impressed in 3 seasons at Anfield. However, Liverpool's confidence that they can collect fees close to the amount they initially paid to Benfica in 2022 (64 million pounds plus 21 million pounds in add-ons) shows that Nunez is still highly regarded.
Meanwhile, the future of Jota, who turns 29 this year, is very complicated. The Portuguese started last season as Slot's first choice in attack. Jota was given priority over Nunez until he suffered a rib injury against Chelsea in October.
Liverpool have not made the severity of the injury public. However, British media reported that the injury had left the former Wolves player very uncomfortable for most of the rest of the season.
Jota could be considered one of Liverpool's most important signings of the decade after arriving in 2020. Jota has maintained his own position in the trio of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah all side by side. However, a series of injuries have disrupted Jota's career.
But unlike Nunez, it is difficult to find a new destination for Jota. And whether Liverpool wants to sell or not is still a controversial issue. In other summers, the Reds' sale of Jota may be the right thing to do after the ups and downs. However, with Nunez certain to leave and Federico Chiesa likely to follow, it would be better for Jota to stay.
