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Liverpool can beat Man United and Man City to Alexis Mac Allister thanks to ‘secret’ weapon
A major talent performing in the Premier League at a south coast club. Liverpool long-time admirers. Then Manchester City attempting to hijack any potential deal.
If Reds supporters have a sense of deja vu regards Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, it’s not without foundation.
After all, Liverpool have been in this position before. And their not-so-secret weapon back then means they stand a more than fighting chance of persuading the Argentina World Cup winner to make Anfield his next destination.
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It was six years ago the Reds identified Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk as their main target as they looked to address the defensive issues that remained apparent despite a top-four finish the previous campaign.
While a number of other clubs were sniffing around the Holland international, then-champions Chelsea and moneybags Manchester City were the main challengers to Liverpool for his signature, each arguably offering a chance of more immediate success than the Reds. Certainly, the trends at the time pointed to such.
Chelsea could also boast Antonio Conte as manager. And Pep Guardiola had completed a season to get his feet under the table at the Etihad and come to terms with English football.
Neither, though, were Jurgen Klopp. And the ability of the Liverpool manager to sell a vision of the possible future at Anfield was what ultimately persuaded Van Dijk to make the move, even if the Reds eventually had to wait several months before it was concluded in January 2018.
“Everybody obviously from a Liverpool perspective knows how lively he is, how he can make players better and give them confidence. It just suits me as well,” said the defender on completing his £75million transfer. “I think he can make me a better player and I am just looking forward to working with him. With the history at the club and everything around it – even the training ground and stuff – it is just a perfect, perfect match for me, and for my family as well.”
So to Mac Allister. The recent report both City and neighbours Manchester United are similarly interested in signing the Argentina international is no surprise given, like Liverpool, both are aiming to recruit new midfielders, even if their need isn’t quite as pressing.
Of course, the situation at present isn’t exactly the same as with Van Dijk back in 2017.. Liverpool – barring a remarkable sequence of events over the coming days – cannot offer Champions League football next season, although with the top five almost certain to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition next time, there is every encouragement the absence of the team that has reached three of the last six finals will be short one.
But while City have, since Van Dijk’s move, subsequently proven themselves pretty dominant – at least in the Premier League – under Guardiola, Liverpool have emerged as the only team capable of keeping pace with them on a consistent basis. And in doing so, they have lifted major silverware in three of the last five seasons.
Brighton will have a price – around £60m-£70m has been widely reported – and will no doubt encourage a bidding war, but past evidence indicates it seems unlikely any of the interested parties have much appetite to go too far beyond their valuation of the player. Liverpool, City and United will all want to hold their ground, Fenway Sports Group in particular unwilling to pay over the odds and veer from their tried-and-tested transfer model.
Instead, as with Van Dijk, it will essentially come down to where Mac Allister wants to play next. At 24, his best years are ahead of him and he has four years of experience in the Premier League. But despite winning the World Cup, he has yet to play a single minute of European football. Whether he is prepared to make that first step in the Europa League or is impatient for the Champions League could prove a contributory factor.
Klopp, then, will have as much part to play as anyone or anything in convincing Mac Allister that Anfield should be his next destination, the plaudits from those past and present during his Liverpool stewardship providing ample testimony of the manager’s lure.
Van Dijk isn’t the only player to have been seduced by the profile of the Liverpool boss and promises of future riches. Pointedly, though, Klopp has been proven right on each occasion. And he will know Mac Allister has the potential to be a foundation in what all Reds hope will be the second great team under the German.
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