Liverpool revisit interest in Alexander Isak alternative they didn't sign before

Liverpool revisit interest in Alexander Isak alternative they didn't sign before

Liverpool reportedly discussed Brentford forward Yoane Wissa when weighing up possible striker targets earlier this year

Yoane Wissa, pictured battling for the ball in Brentford's 2-0 defeat at Anfield on the opening weekend of last season, is a striker said to have been discussed by Liverpool (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images )

Liverpool are ramping up their efforts to sign a new striker - with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike two of the leading candidates. But the Reds have reportedly also considered plenty of names beyond the pair.

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The Athletic has reported that Viktor Gyokeres, Victor Osimhen and Joao Pedro had also been on the club’s radar, and also pointed out that Nicolas Jackson was a player that sporting director Richard Hughes had liked when with Bournemouth.

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Meanwhile, the Daily Mail has added further new names to such a list. Also claiming that Liverpool have mentioned Osimhen, they report that Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins and Yoane Wissa had also all been discussed by the Reds.

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In truth, it is perhaps easy to theorise why those latest names did not go any further than internal discussions. The Mail points to question marks about Rashford’s form in recent seasons as one reason why his name was quickly dismissed - and that’s without considering the fact that a player has not moved directly between bitter-rivals Liverpool and Manchester United since 1964.

As for Watkins and Wissa, they are set to turn 30 and 29 respectively before the end of the year. Despite being proven Premier League performers, age alone is likely to take them outside of the Reds’ preferred profile for transfer targets.

However, Liverpool discussing Wissa is no surprise. After all, he is a player who has been on the club’s radar for a number of years - long before he signed for Brentford.

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The DR Congo international has just enjoyed the most prolific year of his career, scoring 20 goals for the Bees in all competitions as they secured a top-half finish.

But the Reds’ initial awareness of the forward dates back to his time in France, with him shining for both Ajaccio and Lorient prior to his £8.5m switch to Brentford in 2021, returning 47 goals in four seasons.

However, having already been transformed by Jurgen Klopp following his own arrival at Anfield in October 2015, Wissa was not a player they ever pursued.

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But had Liverpool been further behind on their journey, Dr. Ian Graham, the Reds’ former director of research, admits things could have been different.

“At Liverpool we admired both Brentford and Brighton’s signings, though we never told them that,” he wrote in his book, ‘How to Win the Premier League: The Inside Story of Football's Data Revolution.’

“Me and my colleague Daf Steele used to keep lists of players who looked outstanding in their domestic leagues but were either not quite good enough for Liverpool or played in a style that didn’t fit ours.

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“The centre-backs Pontus Jansson at Leeds and Zanka at Copenhagen rated as Premier League standard players, but weren’t really suited to playing in Liverpool’s high-line. Both moved to Brentford.

“Frank Onyeka was the best young midfielder in Denmark. He played for FC Midtjylland, another club owned by (Matthew) Benham, and soon joined Brentford.

“Yoane Wissa had been brilliant in Ligue 2 then in Ligue 1 for years - in 2012 he would have been on Liverpool’s shortlist but when he moved to Brentford, we had the luxury of shopping in more expensive markets.”

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Evidently, that remains the case again four years on from Wissa’s move to Brentford.

Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest have all been linked with the striker, with the latter seeing bids rejected by the Bees in both January and this summer.

Offering up to £25m halfway through last season, Forest’s latest offer reportedly fell below their winter offer and was rejected by Brentford, who value Wissa at more than £50m.

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In contrast, Liverpool are weighing up moves for Isak and Ekitike.

The aReds are reportedly prepared to break the British transfer record for the second time this summer to sign Isak.

Meanwhile, Eintracht Frankfurt have reportedly rejected an initial £70m bid from Newcastle for Ekitike, who they value at £85m.

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