The Liverpool transfer geniuses ‘noted’ Mac Allister World Cup, age, being good and price - Lejit Reporters
The Liverpool transfer geniuses ‘noted’ Mac Allister World Cup, age, being good and price - Lejit Reporters
We can all agree that Liverpool have pulled off A Good Transfer by buying Alexis Mac Allister if the price is anywhere between the £35m and £45m fees mentioned, but the way it has been heralded as some kind of genius really is incredible. Especially as buying Mac Allister or indeed any other decent midfielder last summer might have actually saved them from having a season which can be described as close to disastrous.
This tweet in particular intrigued us because we could not think of a single unifying factor between these three players other than a) they are all good and b) they all signed for Liverpool.
And then it turns out that those are indeed the only unifying factors…
Liverpool moved quickly in the summer market to sign Alexis Mac Allister after identifying the Argentina midfielder as having the same transfer profile to their most successful signings such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
At 24 and with 200 senior appearances in his career, Jurgen Klopp assessed the market for his midfield rebuild and Mac Allister was seen as having the potential to follow in the footsteps of those players who took their game to another level at Anfield, having shown signs of what they were capable of elsewhere.
So ‘the same transfer profile’ literally means ‘these are good players aged between 24 and 27 who have been good somewhere else’. F***ing hell. That’s a niche market.
It was noted in the work of the recruitment team at Liverpool that Mac Allister had fought his way to become a World Cup winner.
But back to that Mac Allister deal…
Yes, the cut-price release clause for Mac Allister negotiated into the contract signed at Brighton in October – he would otherwise have been available on a free at the end of the season – made the 24-year-old a particularly attractive prospect to Liverpool under the transfer model employed by Fenway Sports Group. The Reds’ recruitment team deserve credit for being aware of such a clause, particularly considering Mac Allister’s Argentina World Cup final midfield partner Enzo Fernandez joined Chelsea for £106.8million in January.
They really do deserve credit for being told about the clause – presumably by Mac Allister’s agent Juan Gemelli, who has a longstanding relationship with Liverpool. We wonder whether he also let them know his client had won the World Cup.
Is this the road to Anfield?
When not blowing smoke up the arses of all things Liverpool, the Liverpool Echo are not averse to trying to rake in some Manchester United clicks.
Manchester United great may have unwittingly sent Alexis Mac Allister on road to Liverpool
Yes, Carlos Tevez telling Alexis Mac Allister that the Premier League is the best league in the world a whole four years ago is definitely the reason he has now rocked up at Anfield. He really should have thought that through.
The Rice is right
Declan Rice looks set to leave West Ham and The Sun have an exclusive. Nobody else knows this sh*t. Brace yourselves.
They claim ‘West Ham to demand Prem record for Declan Rice as starting price in bidding war for Arsenal and Man Utd target revealed’ and elaborate that ‘The Hammers will demand a Premier League record fee – in excess of the £106m Chelsea paid Benfica for Argentine World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez’.
What gave them that idea? Was it when David Moyes literally said in February that “undoubtedly he’ll be a British transfer record if he ever leaves West Ham” and that “Dec will be blowing that (British record) out of the water, that’s for sure”?
Or was it in May when the Evening Standard among others were briefed that ‘West Ham remain determined to play hardball in securing a British record transfer fee for Declan Rice, despite acceptance that this summer is their final chance to cash in on the midfielder’?
It’s almost like West Ham want a British record fee for Declan Rice and every f***er already knew.
Swap shop
Mediawatch feared that this was about to become ‘A Thing’ and it has indeed come to pass.
We hoped the Mirror‘s use of ‘swap deal’ to describe something that is not actually a swap deal was a one-off but here we are again…
Lionel Messi swap deal planned after Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s secret transfer meeting
If you think that means that Chelsea are planning a swap deal involving Lionel Messi then you are a fool. For this is the actual story:
Chelsea will look to sign Neymar this summer as Paris Saint-Germain hope to land Bernardo Silva following the exit of Lionel Messi.
It’s almost impossible to unravel the logic that has led to this being billed as a ‘Lionel Messi swap deal’ without getting both a headache and an attack of extreme nausea. And we are open to a swap deal for both.
No, Ney, Never
Interestingly, the Mirror‘s European Football Writer Colin Millar writes in that story (we really hope he didn’t write the headline) that Chelsea are very much interested in Neymar before elaborating: ‘There is believed to be interest in Neymar from at least one other Premier League club, but there may not be many options for the former Barca star’s exit this summer. He is at the stage of his career, increasingly blighted by injury issues, that this may be viewed as his last opportunity for a big-money transfer.’
And yet just a few hours later the same outlet reports that ‘Man United have been handed a boost in their summer transfer plans, with Barcelona manager Xavi ruling out a move to sign Neymar from PSG’.
So many questions but mostly 1) What happened to Chelsea in the intervening hours? and 2) Who ever thought for one single second that Barcelona would re-sign Neymar?
We suspect the answer to these and all other questions is ‘Man Utd transfer’. For this is where all of the clicks lie.
Can we reach an agreement that this is sh*thousing of the lowest order?
The race to the bottom of transfer gossip clickbait is plumbing ever greater depths…
Man Utd and Spurs reach agreement over £40m deal despite pressing transfer need
You might presume from that headline that Man Utd and Spurs have reached an agreement over a £40m deal for a Man Utd or Spurs player (helped along by a picture of Harry Kane) but you would be so very, very wrong.
By the very first paragraph, you are made to feel very silly indeed for believing that to be the case. Idiots. Fools. Naïfs.
