2 hours ago
32
Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes says one Liverpool player makes his top-five current midfielders in world soccer — but it isn't Ryan Gravenberch despite his excellent start to the new season.
Instead, Scholes is a big fan of the technically gifted Alexis Mac Allister, who he was full of praise for while speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, where he waved lyrical about Frenkie de Jong and the former Brighton ace.
"De Jong, Barcelona, I just think technically, I like watching technical players," Scholes said. "I’d have him as number five. I thought he was brilliant against Newcastle last week.
"Mac Allister, again, I thought he was brilliant last year for Liverpool. I saw him close up in the game at Old Trafford, as I mentioned before, he was brilliant, controlled everything.
"I don’t think he’s had a great start to this season, but I’ll have Mac Allister at number four."
Mac Allister has been working his way back to full match sharpness at the start of the new campaign having missed some of the summer through injury.
"I don’t think he is underrated by me because he played maybe every game or close to every game,” Slot said at the back end of last season, when Mac Allister was instrumental in Liverpool winning the Premier League title.
"Maybe the few times he didn’t play that was because he needed rest or he got a knock, so he couldn’t play.
"[He’s a] very important player, (has) game intelligence [and is] so comfortable on the ball.
"But what makes him even more special to me is normally players that have so much game inside and are so comfortable on the ball are not as aggressive and intense without the ball.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
"He is one of the few players in the world that combines this great game intelligence, great on the ball, but (with) a tenacity without the ball. In our midfield, he stands out in terms of tenacity."
Liverpool.com says: While Mac Allister has not hit his full potential so far this season, he is still working his way back up to full sharpness (and it's not as if he has been bad, by any stretch of the imagination).
The Argentine and Ryan Gravenberch are probably the first-choice duo in the middle, though Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones might have something to say about that. Between all four options, Arne Slot is spoilt.
English (US) ·