Jurgen Klopp signed Darwin Nunez instead of £150 million star, claims Liverpool's ex-director of research

Former Liverpool FC director of research Ian Graham has revealed that Jurgen Klopp pushed for Darwin Nunez over Alexander Isak. He added that it was the same with Julian Draxler, but the club managed to convince him to get Mohamed Salah instead.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Graham said that Nunez and Isak were the top targets in 2022, and Klopp had asked for the Uruguayan star. The Reds paid £70 million plus add-ons to sign him, while they also considered a move for Erling Haaland.

He said:

"Jürgen created a lot of success for the club, so it’s understandable why it moved in that direction. 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 [for £70mn plus add-ons] 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 now looking to leave Liverpool this summer after not breaking into Arne Slot's starting XI. The Reds have been linked with Isak, who has been slapped with a £150 million price tag.

Liverpool urged to break the bank for Alexander Isak by Jamie O'Hara

Jamie O'Hara was on talkSPORT earlier this year when he urged Liverpool to sign Alexander Isak this summer. He believes that they can lure him for £120 million and said via Liverpool.com:

"One million percent, they’re going to get a huge fee for him Newcastle, they will because he’s one of the most sought after players in Europe. You’ve seen what he’s done in the Premier League, you know he can play in the Premier League, there’s no risk, well there’s always risk but generally, if he signs for Liverpool, you know he’s going to perform. In terms of Newcastle, they’ve got to get as much money for him [as possible] if that’s the case, it’s not going to be less than £120million.”

The Reds have already broken the Premier League record this summer by signing Florian Wirtz for £116 million.