Before making his move to Brighton & Hove Albion, Liverpool new boy Alexis Mac Allister made sure he sought the counsel of Premier League winner Carlos Tevez.
Mac Allister officially became a Brighton player in January 2019 from Argentinos Juniors for a fee of around £12m. But before he packed up his life and moved nearly 7,000 miles to the south coast of England when his loan spells at Argentinos and Boca Juniors had ended in 2020, he asked for the opinion of former Manchester City and United star Tevez.
"Carlos told me that for him it was the best league in the world," said Mac Allister, who today became Liverpool's first signing of the summer. "He told me that you have to learn how to be very professional and focused on yourself because there is pressure on you to perform when you step out onto the pitch. That is what he told me - that you have to always be ready and above all in good physical shape because it's very physical compared to other leagues."
Over four years on, it's not inconceivable that Mac Allister might have asked for the wisdom of another Argentinian great in Javier Mascherano before completing his latest major career move. If he has, Reds old boy Mascherano will no doubt have informed Mac Allister about the sheer size and scale of the club he has just joined, even if that won't properly dawn on the 24-year-old until he visits Singapore with Liverpool next month on their pre-season tour.
READ MORE: Alexis Mac Allister on why he has joined Liverpool, early transfer deal and where he will play
Mac Allister becomes the first World Cup winner to play for the Reds since Fernando Torres in 2010 and the first Argentina international since Mascherano patrolled the engine room with distinction between 2007 and 2010. "The dream was to win the World Cup and I have done it," Mac Allister told Sky Sports in February. "I could retire now."
Fortunately for Liverpool, rather than walking off into the sunset with his winners' medal, they are instead signing one of the finest midfielders Premier League to a long-term contract that will see him play his peak years on Merseyside. With his international dreams already made true, the next stage will be to do so at club level at Anfield.
The football industry has become second nature for the Mac Allister family. Alexis' father, Carlos, was a left-back who played with the legendary Diego Maradona for Argentina, while his uncle, Patricio, also played professionally. His brothers, Francis and Kevin, play for Rosario Central and Argentinos respectively, but his background made the adjustment to life in England no easier upon his initial move.
Mac Allister was initially placed on a special diet under the instructions of a nutritionist following his eventual arrival at Brighton. Having been made aware of the physically demanding style through Tevez, he wanted to adapt as seamlessly as possible after making the direct and unusual leap straight from Argentina to the Premier League.
There were times, he has since admitted, when he "suffered and cried" due to his homesickness in those early days on the south coast. Having made just nine appearances in his first season, Mac Allister was struggling to find a consistent place in the team.
"That’s the role of the subs sometimes," former Brighton boss Graham Potter said following Mac Allister's late equaliser in a draw at Crystal Palace. "Everybody wants to start, but sometimes it’s more important that the guys that finish the game can influence it and get the result we need.”
A festive visit from his family in December 2021 would be the turning point for the struggling Mac Allister, who was thinking about leaving Brighton when the transfer window opened the following month. After spending Christmas with his parents, he was named in the starting XI for the team that won 2-0 at home to Brentford on Boxing Day. "From that match on, I was always in the team," he later said on the discovery+ docu-series 'World at their Feet'.
Most of Mac Allister's 21 appearances that term came following that St Stephen's Day victory and he went on to gradually establish himself as one of the stars of an upwardly mobile and likeable Brighton side, playing 68 times across the last two full Premier League terms in the process.
His performances in the most recent season made it a historic one for both the player himself and Brighton as a club, helping it qualify for the Europa League for the first time just months after he had helped his national side win their first World Cup since 1986.
But beyond the obvious pedigree that saw him star for the World Cup winners alongside Lionel Messi in Qatar, Mac Allister will also add a much needed injection of availability to a Liverpool midfield department that has been besieged by injury problems in recent times.
A COVID-19 diagnosis in November 2020 saw him miss three games that included a 1-1 draw with Jurgen Klopp's side at the Amex Stadium, but he has rarely missed much football through other, more traditional fitness concerns during his time in the Premier League.
The influential website Transfermarkt.com reports that the newly-signed Reds man has been absent for just one other game through injury, which was, at it happens, a 1-0 win at Anfield in February 2021. That level of availability is in stark contrast to so many of Liverpool's current midfielders, who, almost to a man, have endured problems across the last couple of years.
Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made just 17 league appearances between them before leaving as free agents at the end of the campaign, while Curtis Jones was dogged by a specific stress problem before managing to stay fit for the final couple of months. Thiago Alcantara's own issues have never been too far away and the former Bayern Munich star was limited to just 18 Premier League appearances as a result.
Being available for selection is a trait that will be valued by Klopp, then, as he continues to rebuild a midfield that has begun to crumble over the last 12 months. Comfortable in a number of roles, Mac Allister's ability and his apparent aversion to injury make him a vital first building block for the Reds boss as his engine room renovation gets set to continue this summer.
READ NEXT:
