As Liverpool prepare for what’s expected to be a significant summer in the transfer market, former Reds defender Stephen Warnock has offered his thoughts on two high-profile names being linked with a move to Anfield – Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon.
With the Magpies currently on track to secure Champions League qualification, the pundit believes this could complicate LFC’s pursuit of the Swedish striker.
Warnock on Isak potentially joining Liverpool
“It’s an interesting one, because the argument from Newcastle is: ‘You want Champions League football, and we’re going to give you that’,” Warnock explained in an interview with EgyptBettingSites.com.
“I think the other argument from Liverpool would be: ‘We’re going to compete for the Champions League. We’re not just going to go into it – we’re going to compete for it by bringing you in. We feel like we can compete and win that competition, but we can also win the Premier League, and we can reward you with trophies at the end of it.’
“Newcastle’s argument will be: ‘Well, we’ve just won the Carabao Cup, and we’re trying to build something special here. We feel that you’re going to be part of that.’ But it’s always difficult with a club like Liverpool, with the history that they’ve got, the name they’ve got around the world. Players grow up watching those teams from foreign countries because more often than not, they’re the teams that are televised all the time.”
Despite Newcastle’s strong position, Warnock thinks the allure of Liverpool might still be decisive, saying: “I think it’ll be very difficult for him to turn Liverpool down if there was a fee agreed. But it’s just how much the fee will cost. Liverpool don’t really go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on players.
“We know they haven’t spent in the last couple of transfer windows. They have good money this year from the Champions League and the new format, so there will be money available.
“But [Arne Slot] has got to be careful how he moves that money around if he is going to do a lot of work in the summer – and they are the rumours that we’re hearing coming out of the club: that there will be quite a hefty transfer window this summer.”
Warnock on Liverpool’s interest in Anthony Gordon
Warnock also weighed in on the ongoing links between Liverpool and Gordon, another Magpies forward who was heavily linked with the Reds last year.
The 43-year-old said: “Yeah, I think this is an interesting one because of the Isak situation. I just wouldn’t see Newcastle selling two of their best players to Liverpool, and selling two of their best players within the same transfer window unless they’ve got adequate replacements, which will be very difficult unless that deal is done, or those deals are done very early in the transfer window.”
Luis Diaz’s contract expires in 2027 and Warnock is unsure as to who Arne Slot sees as his first choice on the left side of the attack, saying: “We have seen Gakpo play an awful lot this season under Slot on that left-hand side. Does he feel like he would be his number one, or would it be Díaz?
“Or does he feel like Gakpo would then be a backup for striker, left side of midfield, or left wing position – and you do bring someone like Anthony Gordon in?
“I think if Anthony Gordon did come into the football club, I think it’d be that Isak wouldn’t join, and it’d be another striker.”
With Slot expected to oversee a busy summer of change, all eyes will be on Liverpool’s recruitment strategy – and whether either of the Newcastle stars will make the switch to Merseyside.
