Why Liverpool were able to sign Alexis Mac Allister on a £45m ‘deal’

Liverpool are set to sign Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton for a £45m transfer fee

When Liverpool were still in the running to sign Jude Bellingham, it was widely believed the England international would cost a world record transfer fee of well over £100million.

After the Reds withdrew their interest in favor of signing several new top midfielders rather than just one signing, fans were understandably unimpressed when it emerged that Real Madrid were apparently looking to sign the 19-year-old for a starting price of £85million. .

How could Liverpool not afford such a fee was the simplistic question. After all, last summer the Reds pledged to part ways with a potential £85million to sign Darwin Nunez. Still, the deal with Benfica cost £64m excluding surcharges. As a result, Virgil van Dijk currently remains the only player to cost more than £65m in the club’s history.

Yet fees of £60m – £70m were still being billed for alleged targets Alexis Mac Allister and Mason Mount. Even without the riches of Champions League football, he wouldn’t have gone broke spending just a little more money to lure Bellingham to Anfield, would he?

Alas, the Liverpool bosses had made up their minds. With a poor season highlighting the flaws in Klopp’s squad, Bellingham was off the table. “It’s not about Jude Bellingham, my answer now – why are we constantly talking about things that we theoretically can’t have?” Klopp asked reporters in April after it was confirmed Liverpool would not move not for the Borussia Dortmund star: ‘We can’t have six players for £100m each in the summer for example, everyone would say that’s clear.’

“You have to see what you can do and then work with it. How much money is available to us and then to work with.

“We are not children. If you ask a five-year-old child what he wants for Christmas, he replies: “A Ferrari is not a good idea, it’s too expensive and you can’t drive it.

“It’s about what you can do and then you do it and work with it. That’s how I’ve always worked. Whatever we need and whatever we want, we try absolutely everything to You must accept that this or that is not possible for us. We step aside and do something else. »

Now that Liverpool are set to move Mac Allister and Brighton have given him permission to undergo a medical with the Reds, such a stance makes more sense.

Instead of costing the advertised £60-70m, Liverpool will actually part ways with a fee of around £45m to bring the 24-year-old to Anfield. This total is in line with the amounts spent on the signings of Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo.

The Reds’ recruitment team therefore have every reason to congratulate themselves after sniffing out a bargain. Finally, Brighton are notoriously stubborn when it comes to transfer negotiations. The Seagulls raked in a transfer fee of over £60m when they sold Marc Cucurella to Chelsea last August, while they also received £77m from Arsenal for Ben White and Leandro Trossard and £25m from Tottenham Hotspur for Yves over the past two transfer windows. in Bissouma last summer. Meanwhile, they also resisted offers of up to £70m from the Gunners for Moises Caicedo in January.

Mac Allister, who won the World Cup mid-season, was no slouch and paid a record sum for the Brighton club. But thanks to some kind of transfer release clause, it has become much more affordable.

But that doesn’t mean Liverpool have outplayed Brighton either. On the contrary, both clubs have made a deal that is good for them.

Mac Allister would have been available on a free transfer this summer had the Seagulls not persuaded him to sign after an impressive start to the season last October. On the eve of the World Cup, it proved to be the brightest decision by the Brighton bosses.

While the existence of this release clause suggests the Seagulls essentially fixed this £45m fee for the Argentinian eight months ago, it protected them from a price cut or even the departure of Bosman. Meanwhile, his World Cup winning performances have only enhanced his reputation. In fact, with his new contract running until 2025, no one would have been surprised if Mac Allister moved on for a reported £60-70million. After all, he was instrumental in Argentina’s World Cup victory and was instrumental in Brighton qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history.

The fact that it costs far less highlights how his new deal was essentially just self-preservation before an inevitable summer break, anyway. The offer the Seagulls made to Mac Allister and his representatives during mid-season contract talks ensured they could count on his services until the end of the season without the risk of losing him at a cut price. Instead of £45m as a “deal”, it’s far more than they would have invested without agreeing to an extension. Sure, they could have put a higher bounty on his head after the World Cup, but with his previous deal coming to an end, waiting wasn’t a gamble they were willing to make. As a result, this transfer is essentially a happy medium for the player, the Reds and Brighton.

As for Liverpool, a £45m fee perhaps shows the limits of their financial output en route to a Champions League season, with far more business to do. The Reds are keen on quantity this summer, but the imminent arrival of Mac Allister proves that this doesn’t come at the expense of quality.