Jurgen Klopp has revealed he put no limits on his expectations for Alexis Mac Allister having “desperately wanted” to sign the midfielder last summer.
The Argentine arrived in a £35 million deal from Brighton in June, and made something of a slow start to life at Anfield after being deployed as a lone holding midfielder.
However, since Wataru Endo‘s emergence as the best option in that position, Mac Allister has thrived in a more advanced role.
And he put in yet another masterful performance on Sunday to help his new club beat his old one 2-1 at Anfield.
Asked if Mac Allister has been better than he even hoped, Klopp replied: “I had no limits for him, I didn’t want to limit him, I just knew that was a player I desperately wanted. Thank God we got him.
“Everything he learned at Brighton was super useful, but it’s a new environment and a slightly different role, he adapted to that.
“You never know – not from a football point of view, but character – because there was a lot of discussion of whether he can play the six and it sounds like it was five years ago but it was only a few months ago.
“I got asked the question quite frequently and these things always help, if you play outside your comfort zone. We all know the eight is his best position, he can play the six anyway.
“I’m absolutely happy and we had talks before we signed him, and after them I was super positive that he’s a fantastic boy.
“But you see that only when he’s here, he’s in the middle of the group, he’s the best English speaker of our Spanish faction. That’s great as well.
“They sit together on the table, if you would make a picture of that and Ali on top, then you go to the Copa America it would be funny [to see] how they treat each other then.
“Just a great player, fantastic footballer, super important to us.”
Mac Allister laid on Liverpool’s winner against Brighton with an exquisite through-ball for Mohamed Salah, which has since been revealed the Egyptian demanded.
On the possibility of a partnership emerging, Klopp added: “Somebody told me Mo ordered an assist, but Mo is doing that on Monday with everybody in the squad, telling them if you don’t know where to pass the ball give it to me!
“There’s no specific partnership, I think the most assists for Mo is probably Darwin, but we need them all.”
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