One of the key story-lines of Liverpool’s season so far has been Jurgen Klopp’s decision to replace Fabinho with Alexis Mac Allister.
Okay, that wasn’t exactly the plan when Liverpool’s long-standing defensive midfielder was surprisingly shipped off to Saudi Arabia in the summer. But that’s what ended up happening, regardless.
Since then, Mac Allister has done a fine job for the Reds. The Argentine has thrown himself into the change of role and has has earned the continued backing of Jurgen Klopp.
Nevertheless, that shouldn’t really mean that Mac Allister is being considered as a long-term option in the position.
Most fans would prefer if Liverpool went back in for a player more in the mould of Fabinho: a midfield ‘destroyer’ who has tackling down to a fine art. Someone like Joao Palhinha, for instance.
But despite that, we actually think that some emerging transfer rumours point to the fact that this may have been Klopp’s plan all along. Or at least a version of it. Yes, we’re talking about those re-emerging links to Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich.
Klopp preparing for Kimmich arrival?
Although Kimmich has played plenty at full-back for Bayern Munich, he has now transformed himself into a very good defensive midfielder.
However, he isn’t a defensive midfielder in the way you’d think of defensive midfielder. Instead, the 28-year-old kind of plays the position with a similar interpretation to Mac Allister.
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Clever on the ball and incredibly tactically astute, Kimmich feels like what Klopp had in mind when he shifted his No.10 further back the pitch. The difference being that he’s more experienced in it, and is defensively much more adept.
As a result, is it too much of a stretch to say that Jurgen is now using Mac Allister to mould the team to prepare for Kimmich’s arrival.
Perhaps the manager has earmarked the Germany international for a transfer at the end of the season. By that point, Liverpool should have evolved enough tactically to allow Kimmich to slot straight in.
Jurgen has spoken a number of times already about the role of the No.6 changing to allow a player like Mac Allister to star in it. If that’s the way he wants to play moving forward, then who better than Kimmich to implement it?
The Bayern man’s current contract runs out in 2025. Consequently, maybe there’s a possibility he could be signed for cheaper than his reported £53m price-tag.
If he can be brought in for less, then he’d be a wonderful addition. It would also come with the added bonus of freeing Macca up to do what he himself was signed to do. He may be 29 in February, but we’d still be all for Kimmich being the surprise man in the Mac Allister mould.