Jurgen Klopp expects Darwin Nunez to settle in at Liverpool as quickly and as seamlessly as Luis Diaz did before him, and has detailed his excitement at the Reds’ new £85 million ($100m) signing. Nunez enjoyed his first outing for his new club on Tuesday, playing 30 minutes as Liverpool were beaten 4-0 by Manchester United in a pre-season friendly in Bangkok.

The Uruguayan striker, 23, has arrived on Merseyside with a big reputation having scored 48 goals across the last two seasons with Benfica, and represents an exciting step in the Reds’ evolution, one Klopp believes can make them even stronger going forward.

Speaking to a selection of reporters prior to Liverpool’s tour of the Far East, Klopp explained how he sees Nunez fitting in at Anfield, and how the Reds’ style may change following the departure of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich.

He's a No.9 who can play on the wing,” Klopp said. “If you compare with Sadio, he was a winger who could play in the No.9, so that's the difference.

"We have Luis Diaz, we have Fabio [Carvalho] who can play on the wing as well, we have Diogo [Jota] all these kinds of things.

"Mo [Salah] is still here, been here a long time and is good as well and we have Harvey [Elliott], so we have so many different options up front that I am sure I have forgotten some already!

We have so many interesting options and that is what I like. We haven't just lost Sadio, we also lost Divock [Origi] and Taki [Minamino] and I think we can all agree that without these two boys we wouldn't have won a cup competition last year. We are very thankful for that, but it makes sense as well after a while [to change]. 

So, as much as we miss Sadio, of course we miss a world-class player; as much as we miss Divock and Taki, we need to refresh the efforts and the way we play.

"That always depends on the qualities of the different players and they all have different qualities, so what do we do? 

“I have an idea, but I don't want to say now that we do it like this, as I am really open to what the boys offer and from there we go.

"But] we have a settled formation, if you want, and everyone knows how it is like this, but we have some real options to change the dynamics on the pitch and I think that makes sense for us."

Nunez’s arrival, naturally, raises questions over the position of Roberto Firmino, who for so long has been Liverpool’s centre-forward, but who started only 17 games in all competitions last season, as Mane and Jota were increasingly used in the No.9 role.

Klopp is aware of this, but while he expects Nunez to hit the ground running as Diaz did following his move from Porto in January, he has also insisted that the new-boy will not be expected to play in the same manner as Firmino.

“I think [Nunez can settle in] as quick as Luis,” Klopp said. “Luis had no pre-season, he just stepped in on the Monday, played on the Saturday and it was ‘oh, all good, all ready!’

The reason was the way Luis played at Porto was the way we wanted him to play here, so it was not that we gave him the script book and said ‘have a look at that’, we just let him play and then adjusted here and there a little bit. 

That is pretty much how it is with Darwin. We don’t want to change Darwin in a week or two or three. 

Do I want Darwin to play like Bobby Firmino in the same position? No, not at all. It makes no sense. We are talking about a False No.9 and a No.9. That is the difference. 

“We have to adapt a bit around that, and if it will be in the first Premier League game or the second or the third or the fourth, I couldn’t care less. 

“We can just work on it, and we will do. We will see in training how quickly that will go. That is what I like about it. It will be really interesting. 

We had two or three or four years where it was always clear before the pre-season that we would start up front with Sadio, Bobby and Mo. Now the door is open for pretty much everybody. That is what we have to use. That is what we try to use.

“We have enough games that they all will play, but it is about how we can bring ourselves, all of us, into the situation where we make the extra yard, to which the amount of joy is pretty much unimaginable, and that is what I am really looking forward to.”

Liverpool have already had a close look at what Nunez can do, having come up against him in the Champions League quarter-finals last season.

We knew he was interesting but we didn’t really think about signing him [then],” said Klopp. 

“We were not in talks, [but] he was on the list. We have this ‘Portuguese department in our coaching staff with Pep [Lijnders] and Vitor [Matos]. They watch each game even if they struggle a bit to watch Benfica because both are on the blue side, Porto!  

His determination to join us was obvious. That was really cool to see. That is the first thing you need to know. I don’t like these situations where – it was a while ago that it happened – but you sit with a player and you see in his eyes that he is listening but that he listened an hour ago to the manager of another club and in one hour he will talk to another one. 

“It is normal, it can happen. But obviously Darwin was our first choice and I prefer us being his first choice as well. That was exactly what was clear and I really like that. It was as good as it could have been but now we will start creating a connection and a relationship.”