Liverpool face competition if they are to be successful in their efforts to sign Alexis Mac Allister as part of their long-plotted midfield revamp this summer.
Reports on Monday suggest that Premier League champions Man City will rival the Reds for the Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder, while Manchester United are also set to compete for the World Cup winner’s signature.
While it has repeatedly been claimed in recent weeks that Liverpool lead the race for the 24-year-old, Man City’s interest could complicate matters. Pep Guardiola’s men are able to offer Champions League football, after all.
READ MORE: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hinted at unexpected transfer
READ MORE: Jorg Schmadtke close to deal to become Liverpool sporting director
Meanwhile, backed by Abu Dhabi billions, they are also capable of offering both a higher transfer fee and more lucrative wages to secure Mac Allister’s signature. If City want him, they have the resources to comfortably blow the Reds out of the water.
Liverpool are unlikely to want to get caught up in a bidding war, with the extravagant fees required to land Jude Bellingham contributing to their decision to withdraw from the race to sign the Borussia Dortmund midfielder. While the England international was a long-standing target, the Reds decided they would be better-placed spreading their transfer budget around to land a number of high-quality signings rather than focus on one marquee new arrival.
Yet Bellingham has perhaps inadvertently contributed to City’s own pursuit of Mac Allister, prompting them to look elsewhere with Real Madrid believed to be leading the race for the 19-year-old. Like Liverpool, they have seemingly landed on the Argentine as a suitable alternative.
Brighton won’t make life easy for any interested club, however. A rough price-tag of £70m has been reported in some sections, with the 23-year-old certain to cost more than the club-record deal in excess of £60m that the Seagulls banked when selling Marc Cucurella to Chelsea last August.
Having also pocketed £77m from Arsenal for Ben White and Leandro Trossard in the past two transfer windows, as well as £25m from Tottenham Hotspur for Yves Bissouma last summer, they also resisted bids up to £70m for Moises Caicedo from the Gunners in January. The Seagulls, who have also just qualified for Europe for the first time in their history, are certainly no pushovers.
Liverpool could at least earn favour with Brighton in negotiations if the Seagulls’ reported interest in Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher proves to be accurate.
Spain international Robert Sanchez had been Brighton’s first-choice goalkeeper for the past two years, before manager Roberto de Zerbi promoted long-serving understudy Jason Steele to first-choice at the start of March. Ultimately, he deemed the 32-year-old to be a better fit for his preferred set-up, wanting the Seagulls to play out from the back and considering the former Championship goalkeeper to be superior with the ball at his feet.
Yet it would be a surprise if Steele remained first-choice for Brighton next season, with the Seagulls one of the clubs, along with Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford, said to be interested in signing Kelleher from Liverpool. The Republic of Ireland international has shone at Anfield as Alisson Becker’s understudy, but, now 24 years old, has been linked with a summer exit in search of starting football.
Jurgen Klopp dismissed the possibility of selling the Irishman last week, insisting it would take an ‘extraordinary offer’ to convince him otherwise.
"Caoimh Kelleher? What's happening with Kelleher?" Klopp asked reporters. "He has a contract. You want us to say goodbye (to Adrian) just in case? Honestly, I can't see Caoimh leaving. It must be an extraordinary offer for me to start thinking, I have to say.”
While the possibility of additional game time courtesy of the Europa League could help persuade Kelleher to stay put for another season at Anfield, an exit still isn’t impossible despite Klopp’s admission. After all, if he wants to become a first-choice goalkeeper, Liverpool would find themselves placed in a difficult position.
Meanwhile, ‘an extraordinary offer’ doesn’t mean ‘not for sale’. Reports continue to suggest the Irishman could command a fee north of £20m this summer. As a result, this could effectively help the Reds compete with Man City for Mac Allister and land him for a ‘cut-price’ fee.
Direct swap deals are admittedly rare in football, but Liverpool have, on occasions, negotiated two deals with a club at the same time. When signing Andy Robertson for an initial £8m from Hull City, rising to £10m with add-ons, Kevin Stewart moved the other way in a deal believed to be worth £7.5m with add-ons.
Meanwhile, Wolves would sign Ki-Jana Hoever from the Reds in an initial £10m deal in September 2020, rising to £13.5m, as Liverpool landed Diogo Jota in a deal worth up to £45m.
As a result, if we deduct the fees from sales, the Reds essentially parted with £2.5m to sign Robertson, with Jota costing £31.5m.
So if Mac Allister is to cost £70m, Kelleher moving the other way could certainly help sweeten the deal and help cancel out some of the cost. And if that would help Liverpool agree a deal with Brighton, all that would be left is to persuade the player that Anfield is the move for him.
If it indeed comes down to a choice of Liverpool or Man City for Mac Allister, it will certainly be intriguing to see who makes him the most tempting pitch. And in turn, which of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola he deems the more appealing to play for.
While he can walk into guaranteed success at the Etihad, and immediate Champions League football, he’d arguably start more at Anfield and could play a bigger role in helping restore the club to title-challenger status, even if it means a season in the Europa League in the short-term.
To paraphrase Klopp’s warning to Philippe Coutinho, prior to the Brazilian’s Anfield exit: “Go somewhere else and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more."
Having fallen further behind Man City this year, after coming agonisingly close to winning an unprecedented quadruple last season, Liverpool will be determined to re-establish themselves as the newly-crowned champions’ closest rivals once more.
Miss out on Mac Allister to Guardiola’s men and it will act as an unwanted reality check. But emerge victorious in this latest off-field battle, and the Reds will be sending out a telling reminder of their credentials long before the 2023/24 season has even begun.
READ NEXT:
Liverpool now have just one unlikely path to Champions League football next season
- MOTD pundits agree on decision that cost Liverpool during Aston Villa draw
-
Graeme Souness tears up in TV message as he reveals new challenge
- 'The noises I'm hearing' - Virgil van Dijk makes Liverpool transfer claim
- Every word from Dermot Gallagher over Cody Gakpo and VAR confusion
