Jurgen Klopp reveals Liverpool squad reaction to Alexis Mac Allister & Dominik Szoboszlai signings
- Liverpool landed Mac Allister from Brighton for £35m early in the window
- Szoboszlai soon followed after his £60m release clause was triggered
- Liverpool get their pre-season schedule underway next week
By Tom Gott
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that new signings Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have already made their mark in pre-season training.
A combined £95m was spent to land the two midfielders from Brighton and RB Leipzig respectively, and further reinforcements in that area of the pitch could be sought as both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho consider offers from Saudi Arabia.
With the focus currently on pre-season training, Klopp has been taking a keen look at both Mac Allister and Szoboszlai and the boss has already loved what he has seen.
"Two very good players," Klopp told club media. "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 was pretty clear in the moment we signed them, the public reception was pretty good, internally it was outstanding, the boys know about football so they were immediately like, ‘Oh my God...’ so that’s really good.
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"Now they are here and didn’t take long, let me say, to impress on the pitch as well, so that’s good."
Klopp also took the moment to poke fun at right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who returned for pre-season having opted to chop off his dreadlocks and return to the shorter hairstyle with which he began his senior career.
"Trent cut his hair - [back to] the most successful haircut in his career, so he sacrificed the cool look for success, I like that!" Klopp laughed.
Aside from Alexander-Arnold's new look, there were no surprises for Klopp when the Liverpool squad returned, with every player ready to get back to work immediately.
"The most important stuff, which doesn’t happen nowadays anymore, and that’s a player coming back five kilos more or something like that," Klopp explained. "The boys are really professional.
"It is a little misunderstanding, and maybe even the players misunderstand, that it is not important that you are at the fittest point on the first day of the pre-season. The players need a rest, they don’t have a lot.
"We will - and we can - help them to be in the best possible shape physically and in all other parts as well at the end of the pre-season, or a little bit into the season. The boys came proper, really - they did what they had to do. Yes, a couple did a bit more, but that’s fine as well."
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