When it comes to big-money signings, every decision counts.

Clubs must weigh their options carefully, especially when it comes to high-profile positions like a striker.

Liverpool, while under Jurgen Klopp, has seen its fair share of transfer decisions, but not all have been straightforward.

One significant decision involved choosing between two promising young strikers who were on the radar of Europe’s top clubs.

Jurgen Klopp explains reason he turned down Germany while he was Liverpool boss	Jurgen Klopp confirms which job he turned down to stay and 'fix' Liverpool as future plans revealed	Jurgen Klopp: I turned down German national team to rebuild Liverpool for Slot

The question remains: why did Liverpool opt not to sign one of the top emerging talents at the time?

Liverpool’s recruitment strategy has always been about making the right choice at the right price.

They’ve signed many players who have proven to be integral parts of the squad.

But sometimes, even with talent on offer, the club’s priorities may lie elsewhere.

This specific case revolves around two key striker options and why one was chosen over the other.

The story behind Liverpool’s choice to sign Darwin Nunez over Alexander Isak is tied to Klopp’s trust in his team’s judgment.

According to former Liverpool director of research Ian Graham, they were involved in persuading Klopp in 2017 that Mohamed Salah was the right signing, not Julian Brandt.

In 2022, the club had a similar dilemma when choosing between Isak and Nunez, who was eventually signed for £70 million plus add-ons.

While Isak was one of the top young centre-forwards in Europe, Liverpool chose to go with Nunez instead.

“Jurgen preferred Nunez,” he said, speaking to the Financial Times.

“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.”

“And it was still the case that we signed good players — in Núñez’s case, one of the best young strikers in Europe.

[Nuñez, now out of favour at Liverpool, is reportedly about to be sold to Napoli for around half the sum Liverpool paid for him.]”

The decision wasn’t without its reasoning, as Nunez was seen as a future star.

However, the situation is now different with Nunez reportedly set to be sold to Napoli for half of the £70 million Liverpool paid.

Graham emphasised, “It would be very churlish of me to say, ‘It’s terrible that Jurgen had his choice’, when in the past Jurgen had been persuaded by me and my colleagues of a different choice.”

Ultimately, Klopp and his team’s judgment led to the decision to back Nunez despite Isak’s potential.

Read more: Harvey Elliott comments on England’s U21 European Championship triumph

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