Football pundit and former Red Jamie Carragher said signing Alexander Isak would be ‘amazing’ for Liverpool, but added he had reservations about the elevated price tag of £150m.
Carragher was quoted by Sky as thinking the situation with Isak at Newcastle seemed ‘messy’, with the striker missing out of the club’s pre-season tour of Asia. Carragher told The Overlap, “It will be an amazing signing. From a Liverpool fan point of view, I don’t want the club to spend £150m on Isak. I could probably imagine that he was Liverpool’s No1 target but there’s something about Liverpool buying a striker (Hugo Ekitike) for £80m and he’s a back-up. There’s something about it that doesn’t sit right to me. I look at Isak, he’s obviously thrown his toys out pram once Arsenal and Liverpool signed a striker. From him and his agent’s point of view, did they not tell Newcastle months ago that they wanted to move on? It just seems a little bit messy,” he explained.
Carragher’s concern comes in the wake of Liverpool signing on Hugo Ekitike. “When I think of Liverpool, it doesn’t look really planned. I don’t think the plan is to sign a striker for £80m and sign one for £120m. I feel for Ekitike a little bit. Because he’s been brought in and then all of a sudden this Isak thing has come. I do want Liverpool to sign Isak, but £150m for me feels like a Mbappe. You should be getting Mbappe for £150m,” he told The Overlap.
Sky also reported the Nunez deal where he was Al Hilal, Saudi Pro League club were set to pay a fixed fee of £46.2m (€53m) plus add-ons that could take the deal to £56.6m (€65m), may have spillovers on Isak situation. With another striker short, Sky wrote, and they were looking for one anyway, which is why they made that bid on Friday for Isak of £110m plus add-ons, which of course was flatly rejected by Newcastle.
“But that just adds a bit more intrigue to the Isak situation because there’s another spot up for grabs in that Liverpool attack with Nunez about to leave. So that will be interesting to see what happens there and whether Liverpool still come back in despite the fact Newcastle have yet to essentially replace or bring in a replacement for Isak,” Sky wrote.
Nunez was expected to be a loss for the Premier League, and South American football expert Tim Vickery on Sky Sports News discussing Darwin Nunez’s potential Liverpool exit, said, “I would be very sorry to lose him. He’s a player that always gives you something and I’m still hoping Nunez can evolve this move in another direction. He’s Uruguay’s cutting edge. His record for Uruguay is very good indeed. He’s an optimist of the goal – he’s always trying, always putting himself around, running into the channels. Although there are some Liverpool fans who have a resistance to him, there are many who really appreciate his efforts. This year, going into the World Cup, it’s an important move to make and he may come to the conclusion that going to Saudi will leave him fresher for the World Cup, but he would be a loss to the Premier League.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
