Alexis Mac Allister is the new Virgil van Dijk as five goals show the heart of Liverpool’s transfer plan

Brighton midfielder Alexis Mac Allister will be Liverpool’s first signing of the summer, with fee estimates ranging from $44m to $69m.

For so long, Jude Bellingham appeared to be Liverpool’s main target for the summer transfer window, the player around whom the club’s plans revolved.

A true generational player, he was chosen as the man to kick off Liverpool’s latest leap – version 2.0 of Virgil van Dijk, once again allowing Jürgen Klopp’s side to take football to a whole new level .

But in April, the Reds opted to pull out of the contest, having concluded that Bellingham would eat up too much of their budget to rebuild their midfield properly.

Over the next few weeks, we waited to see who would become Liverpool’s main man in his place, and now we have our answer:

Alexis Mac Allister. According to journalist Neil Jones (via The Anfield Wrap), Mac Allister, whose arrival is due to be confirmed today, has been seen as top priority for the summer term.

That’s partly why Liverpool were quick to get him in in the first week of June, seven days before the Premier League window officially opens. If he waited any longer, there was a risk it would go wrong.

Mac Allister’s takeover delighted fans, but it won’t be long before attention turns to other goals, and there is still a lot of work to be done to take the team to the top level.

According to The Athletic’s James Pearce, the shortlist includes Nice’s Khéphren Thuram, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Manu Koné, Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch, Southampton’s Roméo Lavia and Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga.

You can roughly divide these players into two sports.

First there are Thuram and Koné, who have played a similar number of minutes to Mac Allister in Europe’s top five (all between 6,000 and 6,600), but are a few years earlier in their development (both 22) and have yet to catch up.

settle down as internationals. While Mac Allister made 16 appearances for Argentina, including six starts on his way to World Cup glory, Thuram and Kone made just one appearance for France, beating the finalists in Doha.

And then in the underlying sport are Lavia and Veiga, two players on opposite sides of 20 who completed their first full season of consistent action at the top level.

Gravenberch is somewhere in between, having established himself as one of Europe’s brightest talents at Ajax before struggling to gain a foothold at Bayern. He logged just 559 minutes in the Bundesliga but made 11 appearances for the Netherlands. Unlike the rest of the players on the list, his offer is currently at a low level.

One thing all five players have in common is that they will likely take a little longer to adjust to than Mac Allister, who should be performing straight away as a proven Premier League great.

Indeed, Liverpool fans shouldn’t be fooled by its price tag, with estimates ranging from $44m/£35m/€41m (via Fabrizio Romano) to $69m/£55m/ €64m (via The Athletic’s Andy Naylor).

Had Brighton not been forced to include an exit clause in his contract, they would likely have demanded a much higher fee, perhaps close to what FSG had to pay for Van Dijk.

He’s a player who helped win a World Cup and produced outstanding performances for both sides in the Premier League, earning him a nomination for the competition’s Young Player of the Season award.

Under Klopp, he has what it takes to become one of the best all-around midfielders in Europe.

Jones dubbed him “the guy who [Liverpool] feels like he can build the other teams around him” and that explains why the other targets aren’t quite of the same caliber.

We can expect Liverpool to buy more midfielders this summer to complement Mac Allister and his skills in building up their long-term roster.

In that sense, as the heart of his department, he could be the midfielder version of Van Dijk. The core of Liverpool’s transfer plan has become clear.