Liverpool are reportedly keen on Brighton and Hove Albion star Alexis Mac Allister but one former Anfield favourite is warning the Premier League giants against a potential £60 million outlay.
With the Jude Bellingham domino falling, Jurgen Klopp’s long-awaited midfield rebuild appears to have been made all the more difficult by the somewhat restricted budget handed down to him by the club’s increasingly-unpopular American owners.
Argentine World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister has reportedly taken Bellingham’s place at the top of the Liverpool’s summer wishlist.
Cesar Luis Merlo, an Argentine reporter, reports that Liverpool and Manchester United are currently ‘leading the bidding’. But ex-Anfield favourite Danny Murphy has reservations about a man who would still set Liverpool back a considerable sum, even if his price-tag does not come close to Bellingham’s.
Liverpool like Brighton star Alexis Mac Allister
“Well, I wouldn’t spend (on him),” Murphy tells talkSPORT (19 April, 12.50pm).
“You would have to spend probably £60 million for Mac Allister. I don’t think he is what Liverpool need. He is a super player. I like him a lot. Brilliant technician. Clever footballer.
“But I think Liverpool need legs if is Klopp is going to continually play the way he is.”
Suggestions that Mac Allister lacks the ‘legs’ to thrive under the former Borussia Dortmund boss, however, may not stand up to scrutiny. Mac Allister has, after all, has completed the full 90 minutes on no fewer on 21 occasions during the current Premier League season.
And it’s not as if Brighton tend to sit back and hold their shape either. Mac Allister, meanwhile, possesses many of the attributes Klopp looks for in a midfielder; tenacity, technique, running power and an eye for goal.
‘Need two or three’
Murphy, who recently urged Liverpool to consider moves for Chelsea’s Mason Mount and West Ham captain Declan Rice, believes Klopp will need more than one new midfielder this summer.
That is despite Trent Alexander-Arnold adapting impressively to a new-look central role of late; setting up two goals in Monday’s 6-1 thrashing of Leeds United.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Naby Keita, Murphy points oit, are all set to leave.
“Can Trent adapt and play that inverted full-back (role)? Yes. He showed that the other need (against Leeds). He’s got wonderful ability. It all depends on how the defence adapts when he goes in there,” Murphy adds.
“I think they need two or three (new midfielders). Ox will go, Milner will go, Keita will go. Mount would be good value because he’s got a year left. You’re not going to have to pay silly money.”
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