Darwin Nunez's athletic pace and skill will be an enormous asset to Liverpool, says Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who admitted that he would not recommend challenging the Uruguay international to a race.
The attacker has arrived from Benfica in a £64 million ($79m) deal, and is the star capture of Jurgen Klopp's summer at Anfield.
Already, Nunez is drawing comparisons to another former Liverpool favourite in Luis Suarez, and Oxlade-Chamberlain says that he will be crucial to the Reds' prospects this term.
What does Oxlade-Chamberlain think of Nunez?
"Darwin, we played against and saw him first hand and I think everything that we saw in those games reminded me a little bit of Luis [Diaz] when we played against him when he was at Porto," Oxlade-Chamberlain told the club's official website.
"He’s that sort of a player that you know what you are going to get from – the athleticism, the speed, the strength, the power – and it was the same with him. I remember having to chase Luis back at Anfield at one point and he made me stick it into fifth gear and then try to find sixth to keep up with him!
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"You sort of remember those things and when he walked through the door that was the first thing I remembered – don’t try to get in a race with him if I’m expecting to win! I think Darwin would be the same. I think Virgil said first hand and Ibou said as well how quick and strong he was.
"I think he had that confidence and swagger about him as well and I think as a striker, as a forward player, you sort of need to have that confidence to go and do good things and lead the team from up there."
Will Nunez fire Liverpool to glory this season?
The capture of Nunez marks the flagship deal of Liverpool's summer - unless you count the confirmation that Mohamed Salah will remain on Merseyside after penning an extension in the wake of Sadio Mane's move to Bayern Munich.
But he will face a tough challenge in getting Liverpool over the line against their biggest rivals, Manchester City, following the latter's own recruitment drive including forward Erling Haaland and midfielder Kalvin Phillips.
Klopp's men however will fully believe that their new purchase can live up to his price tag - and having gone agonisingly close to a second Champions League crown under the German last term, the Reds will be ready to fire forward once again this season.
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