Steve Walsh wanted £60m superstar at Everton; now he is linked with Liverpool after Euro 2020

Follow us on Google Discover

We may be looking back on the Steve Walsh era at Everton very differently had a 17-year-old centre-forward joined the Toffees in January 2017.

Walsh, the brains behind Leicester City’s Premier League success story, was adored at the King Power for his ability to spot a diamond in the rough.

And Alexander Isak certainly looked like a gem from day one, sparkling and gleaming under the cloudy skies of Sweden. In 24 games, the gangly teenager had scored ten times for AIK before his 18^th birthday, comparisons with a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic as inevitable as they were understandable.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Everton needed to part with £14 million if they were serious about securing Isak’s signature.

At the time, that felt like a staggering fee for a 17-year-old plying his trade in a league akin to – in terms of strength and finance – the Scottish Premiership.

But as Everton dithered, Dortmund were decisive.

The Bundesliga giants had enjoyed great success in the past when it came to investing in exciting, up-and-coming talents and therefore had few qualms about meeting AIK’s asking price.

And while Isak was forced to swap the banks of the Rhine for the cobbled streets of San Sebastian as Dortmund threw their weight behind another Scandinavian superstar-in-waiting, you get the feeling that £14 million wouldn’t even get you his left leg these days.

Everton’s loss, Liverpool’s gain?

Isak has been linked with a £60 million move to Arsenal after shining at Euro 2020, lighting up a pragmatic and plodding Sweden side who would make a mid-season episode of the Walking Dead look exciting and action-packed.

The prospect of the Stockholm-born 21-year-old joining the club from the other side of Stanley Park, however, may have many an Evertonian wishing they could turn back the clock to January 2017 and plaster an ‘Isak to Goodison’ campaign all over social media, in the hope that Farhad Moshiri would deem it impossible to ignore (Noticias de Gipuzkoa).

And, yes, Twitter hashtags can sometimes shake an owner into action; just ask Daniel Levy… 

Isak has scored 33 times in his two seasons at Sociedad so far. It is telling that few are referring to the La Liga starlet as the ‘new Ibrahimovic’ any more. Isak is his own man, building his own reputation. 

Steve Walsh always knew Sweden’s next superstar striker was something special.

With Liverpool keen, and with his price-tag soaring, if only Everton had acted on their former sporting director’s instincts while Isak was still within their grasp.