Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hailed the arrival of Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton & Hove Albion as "super news" for the Reds.
On Thursday morning, Liverpool confirmed the signing of the Argentine World Cup winner on a five-year contract, and he will wear the number 10 shirt at Anfield.
The Reds reportedly paid a modest £35m to prise Mac Allister away from the Amex Stadium, where he possessed a mechanism in his contract making it easier to engineer a move elsewhere this summer.
The 24-year-old has become the Reds' first signing of the window and will reinforce a Liverpool midfield that will be without Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner next season, with all three due to leave on free transfers at the end of the month.
Speaking to liverpoolfc.com after Mac Allister's arrival was announced, Klopp lavished praise on the "very talented" and "very smart" midfielder, and he "cannot wait" to begin working with the versatile lynchpin.
Our new number 🔟 is here#VamosAlexis pic.twitter.com/lYOPMb27wD
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 8, 2023
"We are adding a very talented, very smart, very technically skilled boy to our squad and this is super news, really it is," Klopp told the official Liverpool website.
"I do not think the football world needs me to say too much about Alexis' qualities because they are already pretty well known but it is clear that he is someone who can play in a number of positions in the midfield and is an all-rounder, I would say. He is calm and composed and someone with proper game intelligence.
"Of course, he is a player we have known about for a long time and I have watched him grow from a young boy coming into the Premier League to a man who helped his country win the World Cup. That is quite a journey.
"My admiration and respect for what Brighton are doing is well known and Alexis has been a part of the journey that they have been on in becoming one of the toughest and best sides in the Premier League.
"I'm really happy his next steps will now be with us and we get to work with a player who is already excellent and experienced, but also has so much more to come given he is just 24 years old.
© Reuters
"He is just as excited to be joining and working with us and that already makes it a good partnership, but there is no pressure on him. He is still so young, so it is obvious he will only improve and our job is to help him take the next steps.
"I'm grateful to everyone at the club who helped make this transfer happen and I am sure I speak for everyone here when I say I cannot wait to start working with Alexis.
"It will be a bit of time before he is able to play at Anfield in front of our fans but in this modern world I am sure he will see how our supporters will welcome him to the Liverpool family when he looks at his phone today and sees the messages online. They will make him feel at home straight away. I have no doubt about that."
Mac Allister helped Brighton qualify for the 2023-24 Europa League with a team-high 10 Premier League goals last term, as Roberto De Zerbi's side finished one place and five points worse off than Liverpool in sixth.
The 24-year-old registered a total of 20 goals and nine assists in 112 games for Brighton, while he also scored once and set up another goal for Argentina in six World Cup 2022 starts en route to the trophy.
Following the capture of Mac Allister, Liverpool are supposedly hoping to sign another two midfielders amid links with Borussia Monchengladbach's Manu Kone and Nice's Khephren Thuram.
Ben Knapton
