Spanish giants miss out on Liverpool star

Liverpool have been left frustrated by Spain's biggest sides a fair few times in the last decade.

From Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho joining Barcelona to Trent Alexander-Arnold making the switch to join Real Madrid.

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The Reds have a history of losing their fan favourites to the cajoling calls of either Barca or Real. Even before the aforementioned trio, there was Michael Owen and Steve McManaman. As well as Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso. Just to name a few.

And Real Madrid are not giving up. They have already started their next pursuit.

Ibrahima Konate is now on the agenda and it looks like the Spanish giants may have a good chance to repeat the transfer trick that saw Alexander-Arnold join them.

Like the England international, Konate's contract is expiring at the end of the season, and he has so far dithered on an extension which is giving us eerily similar vibes to what happened with Trent during the 2024/25 campaign.

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There is one player though who a Spanish giant was reportedly disappointed to miss out on and who now plays for Liverpool.

Back in the day Alexander Isak was a star in La Liga. He caught the eye for Real Sociedad and played a role in securing the Spanish side their first trophy in decades.

In 2022, he was a coveted property. Newcastle United ultimately signed him but Liverpool had him on their radar as well only to opt to sign Darwin Nunez instead.

English sides were not the only ones in the race.

Spanish outlet Marca has written a reflective report as per Sport Witness on Atletico Madrid's failed pursuit of Isak.

According to this report in the summer of 2022, Isak was the club's main target to strengthen Diego Simeone's attack.

The Atletico manager was very keen and had convinced the club to sign Isak. However, ultimately, they were left 'disappointed' as Real Sociedad had priced them out of a potential deal.

Newcastle paid €77m to secure Isak's services which was the kind of sum Atletico Madrid could not pay.

Ultimately, they ended up signing Alvaro Morata instead and the rest is history.

Isak has now gone on to play for Liverpool and made his debut against Atletico Madrid. Perhaps in an alternate universe this might have been different and he might have been lining up for the Spanish giants on Wednesday night.

Thankfully, in this universe, he's Liverpool's prized possession.

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