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Tag: Jude Bellingham

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.

June 7, 2023
The heartbreak at Liverpool transfer will soon be confirmed following the Sky Sports Journal update

Liverpool fans are set for a busy summer of transfer activity, both inbound and outbound, but it looks like news many feared is about to be sanctioned.

As Florian Plettenberg reports: “News #Bellingham: Dortmund want to finalize Real Madrid deal very soon, as always reported by @SPORT1.” Understand: a total package of 150 million euros is unlikely.

“Real compares him internally to Tchouameni (€80m). We expect a possible envelope of 120 to 130 million euros including bonuses. #BVB has not yet received an official offer.

The Sky Sports Germany reporter’s update will perhaps be the most interesting as the whole deal including bonuses is priced at ‘€120-130m’ or around £110m .

This price seemed to have been both sufficient to secure the services of Jude Bellingham and the amount we had set was too high for us to compete with other clubs or completely refresh the squad with what was left of transfer chat .

With Jurgen Klopp set to sign four midfielders for around £60million, each time will tell if the right decision has been made for us to rule out a move.

It’s safe to assume we’ll spend at least £110m this summer, but it’s a good balance of quality and quantity when it looks like we’ll need multiple players in the same window.

But for now, a player who seemed viable and one who could be a fixture of our club for years seems completely out of our league.

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Alexis Mac Allister speaks out about leaving Liverpool for the “next club”

Liverpool target Alexis Mac Allister has been asked about Jurgen Klopp’s interest as summer move to Anfield draws closer

Alexis Mac Allister has said he is “very calm” about the prospect of a move to Liverpool as his transfer from Brighton draws closer.

Mac Allister has emerged as a key target for Jurgen Klopp as he seeks to reshape his midfield this summer after the Reds failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in seven years.

While Liverpool have shown no signs of an agreement with the club, Argentinian sources said last week that the 24-year-old was set to make the move for a transfer fee of around £60million.

Mac Allister cried after Brighton’s final Premier League game at Aston Villa last Sunday as he helped the Seagulls qualify for Europe for the first time in their history.

And the Argentine world champion has now been asked directly about Liverpool’s strong interest and the possibility of a collaboration with Klopp.

“I’m very calm because I also have the opportunity to be at a club like Brighton, which has always been with me and where I really like being,” he told Argentinian-based media Infobae. at Miami. If I don’t leave the club I will be very happy there, but I am aware that there are opportunities (to move) and if there is a good offer for the club and for me, we will evaluate it.

“I have no doubt that (the Premier League) is the best league to play in and therefore I am aware that my next club would like to play in the Premier League. I really enjoy being there.”

Mac Allister added: “The goal is to keep getting better as a person, as a player, to win more titles. I think that’s my short-term goal and it always will be because I’ll always be the same person and I’ll always be the same person.” .” I want to be a little better than the day before, so I focus a lot on that.

“I won’t complain, I’m 24, I’m a world champion, I play in one of the best leagues in the world and I feel like my career is growing, but I’m still down to earth.” the ground and I really want to improve, become a better person and a better player every day. We’ll see what the future holds.

Liverpool are targeting a number of midfielders as part of their summer engine room overhaul. They remain interested in Mason Mount even though Manchester United are ahead in the Chelsea midfield race. And reports from France this week indicated that the Reds are considering using Nice’s Khephren Thuram.
The domestic transfer window for Premier League clubs opens on June 14.

June 2, 2023
Jorg Schmadtke confirms surprising length of Liverpool sporting director’s contract

Liverpool sporting director Joerg Schmadtke has revealed he will initially only hold the position for the duration of the summer transfer window, but could stay longer.

The Reds confirmed on Wednesday morning that Schmadtke will replace Julian Ward as sporting director at Anfield from the start of June – Ward himself had only been in the job for a year following an internal promotion to replace Michael Edwards last summer.

Schmadtke, once a Bundesliga goalkeeper during his own playing career, has more than 20 years’ experience as a sporting director in Germany and most recently served in that role at Wolfsburg until January 2023.

Liverpool is the 59-year-old’s first overseas job and will initially be temporary.
“Our cooperation is initially planned for three months,” Schmadtke told Sport1 in Germany. “I will start on June 1st. After three months we will evaluate the collaboration. If we like each other, we can work together even after the transfer period. Let’s see. Then we continue or not”.

Liverpool withdrew from the race to sign Jude Bellingham in April due to the prohibitive cost and Schmadtke joked that he hasn’t been budgeted yet for the summer. However, he also stressed that the focus will be on the small details, which often determine the success of a transfer.

“I don’t have a budget yet [laughs…” he said. “Seriously, transfers are always complicated. When a player goes from A to B, it’s usually small things that are hard to influence and have nothing to do with making money. For example, how the player fits into his family in the city, what place he should take in the team, how to show his best performance. You have to take this into account. The fees associated with these transfers are almost negligible.

Schmadtke will also have to adapt quickly to a new way of working, admitting that German football managers tend to have less ‘influence’ over transfer decisions than they do in England. In that regard, Jurgen Klopp, whose agent was the one who recommended Schmadtke to Liverpool, will continue to play an important role in choosing the players the club wants to sign.
“Jurgen Klopp sets priorities,” explains Schmadtke.

“We’ve paired him with a team of data analysts, scouts and so on, so he can pick from a list of players he wants to work with. Then I organize the transfers with the responsible departments of the club. And in the end the owners have to be satisfied with the investments».

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Luis Diaz injuries are revealed as two Liverpool players leave the team

How Jurgen Klopp’s players rated this season using the numbers we gave them for each of Liverpool’s 52 games

However you choose to dress them, the truth is inevitable: Liverpool have had a very, very disappointing season.
Of course, there is the small consolation of fifth place and Europa League qualification that appeared after the Reds earlier this year.

But the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s side failed to finish in the top four for the first time in seven years, meekly giving up the FA Cup and League before embarrassingly slipping out of the Champions League in the round of 16, underscores just how much they have been a disappointing campaign. was
The reasons are well documented.

And the history of the term can be seen in the performances of the players, with ECHO rating Liverpool in their 52 games played in all competitions this season, placing them at 10 for every appearance they have played at least 15 minutes.

Here we then rate the campaign of each player who has made 20 appearances, using their average ratings as a guideline. They are not a particularly good read.

There is one player who shone quite a distance for Liverpool amidst all the darkness. Alisson Becker (6.91) was a consistent star throughout the season, only registering below six times during his 47 scoring appearances.

Mohamed Salah (6.82) is the only other Reds man to reach the goalkeeper from close range, reflecting a season in which, while not his best, he still scored 30 goals and contributed 16 assists, setting a large number of records of the club.

The best of the rest

Ibrahima Konate (6.58) and Virgil van Dijk (6.54) are firmly ensconced as first-choice centre-backs, with the former quite solid and the latter finding rich form in recent weeks.

Diogo Jota’s high placing (6.52) underscores what Liverpool have lacked in attack as the Portuguese was out twice through injury, while Andy Robertson (6.48) remained stable on the left side of defence.

Harvey Elliott (6.45) deserves credit for his consistent performance during darker days, and Cody Gakpo (6.44) overcame a slow start to his Anfield career to finish the season as the most likely to lead striker in the new season.

James Milner (6.42) may have been limited to couch cameo appearances since the new year, but he’s largely got the job done.

Below their best

Darwin Nunez (6.38), another big stalwart, made a decent contribution before Christmas but then recorded just one more cap than 7, scoring twice in a 7-0 win over Manchester United. Trent Alexander-Arnold (6.37) has had periods of real trouble but the switch to the reverse right-back role in recent months has improved his average rating considerably.

Roberto Firmino (6.35) and Thiago Alcantara (6.33) were in good form at times but were hampered by minor injuries.

Meanwhile, Fabinho (6.13) was on course for a particularly dismal season – his substitutes doing little to help – until an in-form rebound saw Liverpool end on a streak of 11 matches unbeaten.
Gotta do better

Joe Gomez (6.08) signed a new contract last summer and established himself as a regular before a surprise Champions League appearance at Napoli tarnished confidence. There was something of a revival in the new year, until another poor result was Wolves’ grueling defeat. Joel Matip (6.05) was another central defender who struggled that afternoon, with his post-Christmas form deeply disappointing.

Jordan Henderson (6.00) has rarely been 100% this season and apart from some notable performances hasn’t been able to influence games as much as he has in recent years, being passed in midfield

At the edges

There were a number of players who didn’t have enough to be included in the overall standings. Luis Diaz (6.84) narrowly missed the cut with 19 appearances and, like Jota, showed what Liverpool had been without for so long.

Teenage midfielder Stefan Bajcetic (6.77) was the breakout star before injury ended his season, while Curtis Jones (6.33) has been impressive in recent weeks after a frustrating campaign on the sidelines.

Fabio Carvalho (6.15) has barely caught a glimpse after Christmas, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (6.00) has had a brief burst of activity into the new year. However, Naby Keita’s performance (5.45) perhaps illustrates why he left the team after not playing since February.

May 30, 2023