‘I love him’… Jamie Carragher is a major fan of £60m attacker who Liverpool missed out on signing

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Liverpool can have relatively few regrets over their transfer business of the past few years.

In fact, throughout Jurgen Klopp’s almost nine-year tenure at the club, the Reds have barely put a foot wrong in the market. With former recruitment head honcho Michael Edwards imminently set to return, it looks like that will extend to the post Klopp era, too.

Nevertheless, there have still been one or two players who you feel Liverpool could have pushed harder to sign. Having been linked with him for years before joining for Newcastle United in 2022, Alexander Isak is one of those.

The Reds were first linked with Isak as far back as 2021, when the Swede was still with Real Sociedad. The rumours then really ramped up ahead of the 2022 summer window. However, a concrete move never arrived from Liverpool. As they spent big money on Darwin Nunez, Isak headed to Newcastle for £60m instead.

Since then, the 24-year-old has been excellent on Tyneside. Having scored 10 goals last season, Isak has kicked things up a notch this year and has 15 in all competitions. His latest was a superb strike against Chelsea last night, a goal which led Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher to profess his ‘love’ for Isak on Sky Sports Monday Night Football.

“I never stop raving about this guy, I love him,” Carragher gushed.

Carragher praises Isak impact

We’re with Carragher on this one. Not only has Isak been pretty lethal since arriving at Newcastle, he also offers much more besides just goals, too.

There were some eyebrows raised when Newcastle spent such a big fee on a player who had scored just six league goals in the season prior to his signing.

But Isak has since put any such worries to bed. Languid, technically excellent, physical, quick, smart, the Sweden international is everything you’d want in a modern forward.

Had Liverpool opted to bring him to Anfield two years ago, you get the impression that he’d have slotted in perfectly.

For a time, Isak actually looked like he might have been a better fit than Nunez. However, if you’d ask any Liverpool fan right now, they’d probably agree that the right decision was ultimately made.

Although the Newcastle man would surely have been a hit, Reds supporters wouldn’t swap Nunez for the world.

Not only is the Uruguayan prolific and – in the words of Mohamed Salah – ‘really, really fast’, he’s also one of the biggest characters in the Premier League. Darwin simply loves playing for Liverpool and it really, really shows.

Isak has been a similarly big hit with Newcastle fans. His ice cold personality has certainly earnt him a legion of admirers at St James’ Park.

But in terms of appeal and in blunt goal scoring terms, Nunez wins out. Their respective records are as follows since their big moves of 2022: Nunez 82 games, 31 goals. Isak 56 games, 25 goals. More goals, more games, bigger impact. But Carragher would clearly like to see Isak join Darwin at Anfield, and we would too.