Alexis Mac Allister was afforded a warm reception when he returned to former club Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday night. The Argentina international was introduced as a 64th minute substitute in Liverpool’s 3-2 League Cup win at the Amex Stadium.
The midweek match marked the World Cup winner’s third meeting with the Seagulls since leaving the club to join the Reds in a £35m deal in the summer of 2023.
While at fault for Brighton’s opening goal in a 2-2 draw on the South Coast last October, Mac Allister later set up the winning goal for Mohamed Salah when Liverpool won 2-1 at Anfield the following March.
He won’t have to wait long to lock horns with his former club once more, with the Reds welcoming Brighton to Anfield when they return to Premier League action on Saturday. And the 25-year-old is expected to be recalled to Arne Slot’s starting XI.
But while Mac Allister is the only former Seagull in Liverpool’s ranks, things could have been very different with a number of his former team-mates previously emerging on the Reds’ transfer radar.
Liverpool infamously missed out on signing Moises Caicedo last summer despite agreeing an £111m deal with Brighton, as the Ecuador international instead dug his heels in in order to force through a move to Chelsea instead.
But the Reds’ former director of research, Dr. Ian Graham, has shared his admiration for a number of Brighton’s transfers in recent years, with a number also finding themselves monitored by Liverpool prior to their switches to the South Coast.
