Jurgen Klopp reveals Liverpool completed summer signing that he 'desperately wanted'

Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he ‘desperately wanted’ to sign Alexis Mac Allister for Liverpool - and lavished praise on the midfielder’s impact.

Mac Allister became the Reds’ first signing in their rebuild last summer. He was recruited for a fee of £35 million from Brighton & Hove Albion and instantly became a key player at Anfield.

Mac Alliter has made a total of 35 appearances in all competitions as Liverpool aim to win the Premier League and Europa League, having already been crowned Carabao Cup champions. The 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina started the campaign operating in the No.6 role but has featured in a more advanced position more frequently. In his past 10 games, Mac Allister has scored four goals and recorded five assists.

And Klopp marvelled at the impression that the 24-year-old has made on Merseyside. Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s clash against Sheffield United, Klopp told reporters: “I had no limits for him, I didn’t want to limit him, I knew it was a player I desperately wanted. Thank God we got him. Everything he learned at Brighton was super-useful but then it’s a new environment, slightly different role. How he adapted to that, you never know. Not from a footballing point of view, it’s more like character because there were a lot of discussions: can he play the six and these kind of things. It sounds like it was five years ago but it was only a few months ago people had these kind of discussions and I got asked the question quite frequently. These things always help, if you play a little bit out of your comfort zone it always helps.

“We all know the eight is his best position but he can play the six anyway. I’m absolutely happy. We had talks before when we signed him, and after them I was super-positive that he’s a fantastic boy. But you see that then only when he is here. He is in the middle of the group, he is obviously 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 [Alisson Becker] on top of that on the table usually – and then you go to the Copa America, it would be a funny picture how they treat each other then! Just a great player. Fantastic footballer, super-important for us.”