Alexis Mac Allister is already shaping up to be a tremendous signing for Liverpool in his first few weeks at the club, and The Athletic’s James Pearce has noted a couple of things in particular which’ll further endear the Argentine to Reds supporters.
The 24-year-old lit up the first half of Sunday’s win over Leicester in Singapore, and it was his deft ball into Diogo Jota which ultimately led to Darwin Nunez opening the scoring in a 4-0 win.
It’s not just what the former Brighton star is doing during matches which’ll delight followers of his new team, either.
As noted by Pearce for The Athletic, Mac Allister ‘was so proud of pulling on the Liverpool shirt for the first time in the recent friendly against Karlsruhe that he declined an offer to swap shirts’, instead offering his shorts to an opponent after the game as he wanted to keep the jersey as a framed memento.
It was also stated in the article that his ‘transition has been seamless so far with the club’s South American contingent taking him under their wing’, the 24-year-old sharing a fondness for herbal drink maté with Alisson and Nunez.
Liverpool fans will love reading that such is Mac Allister’s pride in playing for the club that he wouldn’t give away the shirt he wore in his first game for the Reds, even though it was a pre-season friendly.
Kopites will also be very pleased to hear that the 2022 World Cup winner seems to be settling in straight away and forming an immediate bond with his teammates.
The Argentine’s statistics from the Leicester game make for pleasant reading. As per Sofascore, he played two key passes, had a 100% success rate for crosses and long balls, and completed 24 of his 26 passes in total (92% accuracy).
There was always a good chance that Mac Allister would make a quick impact at Liverpool, having excelled in the Premier League for Brighton and thrived on the biggest stage in football for his country last winter.
Judging by what Pearce has said about the 24-year-old, Paul Merson’s recent claim that it’d take time for the midfielder to settle in at Anfield is looking a tad foolish! The £35m acquisition already looks like a man who’s destined to be a star for Klopp’s Reds.
#Ep83 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones