By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Alexis Mac Allister is expected to sign for Liverpool from Brighton, subject to a medical, after agreeing a contract said to be around £60million which is understood to run to June 2028, Guardian Football UK reports.
It is standard practice for Liverpool, when making investments of this nature, to give arrivals a minimum of a five-year contract.
Personal terms will not be a problem for Mac Allister, whose energy and goals will give Jurgen Klopp’s team a different dimension.
Liverpool are to pay the buyout clause in the Argentina international’s contract and will then turn to other targets to continue their midfield rebuild.
Mac Allister is due to have a medical in the next 24 hours.
The buyout clause in his contract, signed weeks before he went to the World Cup is significantly less than the £60m that has been mentioned. That deal has two seasons to run, with an additional one-year option for the club.
Mac Allister, who made his Brighton debut in March 2020, is poised to be Liverpool’s first signing since they appointed Jörg Schmadtke as their Sporting Director for the summer window. Brighton could also lose Moisés Caicedo, who is a target for several clubs including Chelsea.
Mac Allister was earmarked as Liverpool’s primary transfer target following the cooling of interest in Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and the Reds have moved quickly behind the scenes to ensure the 24-year-old is in position to sign once the window officially opens later this month.
The legendary John Barnes, a former Liverpool winger believes the midfielder will arrive at Anfield with huge expectations placed on him given his performances for both Brighton and World Cup winners Argentina last season.
Barnes also believes Mac Allister will come with huge demands placed on him as the Reds aim to rebuild a midfield department that lost James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita at the end of the season.
“I think Alexis Mac Allister will come with a huge reputation and expectation to be a starter. When you’re signing a midfield player like him, they’re going to go straight into the team.
“If we sign a forward, then he may have to fight for his place unless he’s the best forward in the world. But in the midfield, if it’s a player you want, he’s going to go straight into the team, a hundred percent, “Barnes told BonusCodeBets.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi openly admitted Mac Allister and his similarly influential team-mate Moises Caicedo were expected to leave this summer.
Speaking after his side’s 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa on the final day of the season, he said: ‘I think that can be the last game of Alexis and Moises, I’m really sorry.
‘They are two great people and two great players.’
‘The policy of Brighton is like this,’ De Zerbi then added. ‘I think it’s right they can leave, can change teams and play in a level higher.
‘We are ready. We have to find others big players to play without Alexis and Moises.’
