Forget Alexander Isak: Liverpool told by club legend to move on from £100m pursuit of Newcastle striker and sign Ollie Watkins instead

Fowler admitted that the newly-crowned English champions will need to raid the transfer market this summer for a new number nine as they look to replace Darwin Nunez. While Liverpool have been linked with a move for Newcastle United's star forward Isak, the club legend wants the Reds to shift their focus to Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins instead of the Swedish striker.

Speaking to The i Paper, the former Liverpool striker said: "It’s a difficult one because as a supporter, you want them to sign every player under the sun!. If you’re not signing players, you risk potentially going backwards. Maybe [Darwin] Nunez will be a name on a few teams’ lists because he hasn’t played the amount of games he’d want to, so you assume Liverpool will try to bring a No 9.

"The problem is clubs know that they are potentially on the lookout for a No 9, so the prices will become silly. If you look at [Alexander] Isak, he’s going to be £100m plus easily. He’s a wonderful player, but Liverpool may not want to pay that, and they’ll look around. You could look at Ollie Watkins. He doesn’t really fit the model in terms of what Liverpool want, given his age [29 years old], but I’d go and get him for a couple of years because he’s a tremendous player and established and experienced in the Premier League."

Watkins, too, has been linked with a move away from Villa Park in the summer, with top clubs like Arsenal reportedly keen on signing the English striker. With his game time slowly reducing under Unai Emery, the player is reportedly frustrated and could consider leaving the Villans ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

The newly-crowned English champions are all set to visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday as they take on Chelsea in the Premier League.