Jurgen Klopp shares the ‘great nickname’ he’s come up with for Alexis Mac Allister

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Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he’s come up with a funny new nickname for Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister.

Mac Allister is settling into life and training at Liverpool, having signed from Brighton in June. And speaking to liverpoolfc.com for the first time this pre-season, Jurgen Klopp was asked about the Argentine, as well as fellow new boy Dominik Szoboszlai.

“Very happy!” beamed the boss. “Two very good players. I was immediately thinking about nicknames and I thought it would be a great nickname for Alexis… Gary [McAllister]! He plays pretty good football, obviously, the same as Dom.”

It’s debatable whether Alexis was previously aware that he’s actually the second McAllister to play for Liverpool. But he certainly is now! Expanding a little more on his new signings, Klopp gave glowing reviews of both.

“It was pretty clear in the moment we signed them, the public reception was pretty good, internally it was outstanding,” he said.

“The boys know about football so they were immediately like, ‘Oh my God…’ so that’s really good. Now they are here and didn’t take long, let me say, to impress on the pitch as well, so that’s good.”

Gary Mac 2.0 ready for action

With all the strangeness around the club this week, it’s nice to hear from Jurgen. You can always rely on the boss to bring a sense of humour and positivity to proceedings.

Obviously, he wasn’t asked about the Jordan Henderson and Fabinho situations, but there was plenty more to discuss besides.

Prior to the news from Saudi Arabia, all the focus from Liverpool fans had been on Mac Allister and Szoboszlai. They really are two exciting additions.

The Henderson stuff in particular feels to be overshadowing that just for the moment. But once the captain is out of the door, that positive feeling should return.

In fact, with extra bodies in midfield potentially gone, there may be even more excitement for Mac Allister and Szoboszlai. They now truly do represent a new era for Liverpool.

For Mac Allister, he does have relatively big boots to fill. ‘Gary Mac’ was a hugely popular figure with Liverpool fans, enjoying an immensely successful two years at Anfield in the early 2000’s.

The last time a McAllister had a debut season with the Reds, they ended up winning a treble. Do the same again, and maybe Alexis’ new nickname will stick.