Ian Graham, Liverpool’s former director of research, has lifted the lid on the events that led to Liverpool favouring a move for Nunez, which paved the way for Isak to join Newcastle.
While Nunez has struggled on Merseyside and could be set to leave Anfield this summer, Isak has established himself as one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe.
And with Liverpool now keen on Isak again – though accepting of the fact it is going to be almost impossible to sign the Swedish striker this summer – there’ll be understandable frustration on Merseyside at what might have been a few years ago when then-manager Klopp was trusted with the power to make major transfer decisions.
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“Jürgen created a lot of success for the club, so it’s understandable why it moved in that direction,” said Graham, who is chief executive of Ludonautics, the sports advisory business that he founded, in an interview with the Financial Times.
“I’m happy to talk about my colleagues persuading Jürgen [in 2017] that Mo Salah was the player to buy instead of Julian Brandt.
“In 2022, he signed Darwin Núñez instead of Alexander Isak. Both players, if you look at top young centre-forwards in Europe, they would be number one and two — or two and three but [Erling] Haaland was going to [Manchester] City and out of our price range.
“Jürgen preferred Núñez. It would be very churlish of me to say, ‘it’s terrible that Jürgen had his choice’, when in the past Jürgen had been persuaded by me and my colleagues of a different choice.
“And it was still the case that we signed good players — in Núñez’s case, one of the best young strikers in Europe.”
Nunez is wanted by Napoli this summer and Liverpool boss Arne Slot won’t stand in the Uruguayan’s way if the clubs can agree a deal.
The Premier League champions would love to sign Isak but Newcastle are absolutely adamant the 25-year-old – who is happy on Tyneside – is not for sale. United’s valuation of Isak will price out any interested clubs, with Arsenal having previously been strongly linked with the striker.
Newcastle are looking to sign competition for Isak this summer but have missed out on Joao Pedro, who is heading to Chelsea.
Liverpool have made a stunning start to the summer window, with the signings of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
