Since no one else would do it… You can blame me later when he signs for another club or signs for us and becomes a flop!
Fabrizio Romano is the main source here, although literally every LFC-related journo confirmed that he’s high on club’s list of summer targets. So, fire away.
I’ve already said that there’s something I didn’t like about him but couldn’t quite put my finger on it (maybe his dull facial expressions) and that I think he would be a flop here but we’ll see. Sometimes we just need a player who will be:
calm in possession
always available for passes
calm in possession
good passer/recycler/whatever you call it these days
calm in possession
willing to get stuck in
calm in possession
able to help us actually keep the ball
calm in possession
Basically, we need another Gini Wijnaldum at the top of his game and maybe he’s that player. One worry, should he sign, is whether he can replicate his Brighton form without a beast of a midfielder that is Caicedo next to him. That said, maybe we get an upgrade of Fabinho as well, which would make things easier for our midfield in general, regardless of other signings we might make in that area.
I haven’t seen enough of him to have a real strong view. Nonetheless, from what I’ve seen, he’s a good player. Tidy on the ball. Can play across the midfield. Reminds me a little of Gundogan in some
respects. Is he good enough though, does he push the envelope. We need to sign some quality players who can win us the big titles.
Don’t get why he signed a new contract just last October. Makes little sense. Outside some security over wages and perhaps that’s a big enough reason. Otherwise he could quite easily negotiate a higher bonus and or wages.
Trust the club to have done their homework, but he’s very much a player who didn’t register with me at all until the World Cup, which I didn’t watch, but it did seem to massively hike his profile.
I think we’re so far away from buying a player off the back of a decent tournament…but it still has that feeling.
If we sign him great, I’ll judge him for what he does here and not what he’s done before.
Some of the fees mentioned are concerning, so hopefully it will be structured with a lot of addons if it does happen.
This is my thought as well and so I’ve been surprised by the level of doubt expressed.
I totally understand the reservation of whether the players are really this good or just a great fit for Brighton. But every time I watch them the picture becomes ever clearer - they are a side that if they forwards and a keeper half as good as their midfield they’d already have secured CL football. I mean Brighton are doing this while being forced to give 30+ games a season to Welbeck
Couple of factors really. Most signings aren’t necessarily world class when signed. That’s not the be all and end all. The other is how often do we regularly watch some of these players. To really gauge how good a player might be.
I will admit I’ve not seen a great deal of him as I’ve been focusing a lot of my non-Liverpool time on the youth football again but I found him an interesting player as an attacking midfielder when he came through, mostly because he just didn’t seem to fit in with that role. He even played as a striker for a time.
I’ll have to take other people’s word for it that he is playing well as a CM (and the stats support that also). Seems like he is the reverse of Mason Mount; Mac Allister is a CM who was being played at AM. Mount is an AM being played at CM.
Not to the minute details but he seems to be the kind of CM we had hoped Keita to be? The hardworking midfielder who make the runs into boxes with or without the ball and tracks back, abit of box to box and scores his share of goals.
If it is one other midfielder, then it needs to be a top notch 6 like Ugarte, or an 8 who is flexible to be a 6 too, and is an excellent athlete, like a Caicedo, or if he is too much, a cheaper option like Kone.
If it is Mac plus Mount, the blend seems wrong.
So, cautiously optimistic with MacAllister, but we need to see the whole picture in regard to who else.
His partnership with Caicedo has dominated most midfielders in the league and both have the qualities to step up in any set up to carry that through for years to come.
Unsung hero for the Argies at the World Cup too, was a joy to watch.
70m? Perhaps a little steep, this is the premium price you pay to prize away a player from another Prem club, if he goes onto have the impact Ali and Virgil had, of course it’d all be worth it.
