Liverpool have just glimpsed a duo capable of rivaling Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne next season

A Liverpool duo who have already surpassed Manchester City superstars Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland could be poised to explode in next season’s Premier League.

Five minutes into the second half of Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against Greuther Fürth on Monday, Harvey Elliott received the ball in the middle of his own half.

With plenty of room in front of him, Elliott was able to sweep a superb pass down the line to Mohamed Salah, who cut and slid back a perfectly weighted ball for Darwin Núñez’s diagonal run, allowing the number nine to get around the keeper and send him home.

Less than 10 minutes later, the same combination struck again when Salah made a pass to Núñez, who stopped him on the chest, struck the defender and finished calmly with the side of his foot.

That goal gave Liverpool a 3–1 lead, but after Fürth rallied to score three and turn the game around, the Uruguayan returned the favor in the dying minutes to salvage an equalizer by bowling a ball for Salah to convert after running away into the back again. After a frantic 45 minutes that were probably too open for Jurgen Klopp’s liking, the coach was left with one notable advantage: a taste of the duo’s explosive potential.

Already in Núñez’s first season at Anfield, the two reached a unique understanding. As of 15 February, they were creating a chance for each other every 52 minutes on average – the best rate in the entire Premier League, according to Opta Joe.

Fulham’s Aleksandr Mitrović and Andreas Pereira returned to second place (63 minutes), with Spurs pair Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane in third (66 minutes) and feared Manchester City pairing Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne in fourth (67 minutes).

To underscore how impressive that was, only two Liverpool pairings in the last 17 years have surpassed each other – Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suárez, and Luis Suárez and Philippe Coutinho – and even then they were both just a minute ahead, thanks to Michael Reid. The ceiling for that Salah and Núñez combo is arguably even higher as the Reds improve – remember the numbers come from a stage in the season when Liverpool were ninth in the table – and Núñez is really settling in.

While the former Benfica player scored four goals for the right-winger, Salah only assisted once and that was largely due to Núñez’s poor conversion of chances.

But if he can start to display the kind of sovereign composure he showed on Monday on a more consistent basis, and concede there will be more of a challenge in important games, then he could potentially be recognized as the best partnership in the division.