Liverpool will reportedly open talks with Alexis Mac Allister over a new contract after a strong start to the season by the Argentine.

Mac Allister was overlooked for a new deal while seeing Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai pen extensions recently, but according to journalist Ismael Mahmoud, talks will commence as Liverpool react to his improvement in form.

Liverpool unlikely to offer long-term deal to Mac Allister

Having seen him drop off alarmingly last season, it is understandable that Liverpool have been cautious with offering Mac Allister a new contract. However, after his improvement this term, Lynch told Anfield Index this week that it is very possible that Andoni Iraola is one of the biggest driving forces behind what he calls an ‘interesting shift’ in approach to the midfielder.

“I daresay that’s fairly well sourced to be fair to him, so an interesting one and I think a change of position on Liverpool if that proves to be the case, because Mac Allister himself said they weren’t planning to to offer him a new deal and that was how it was,” he said when asked about Mahmoud’s initial report.

“So, maybe his performance level, Iraola’s good start is maybe increasing his influence already to be able to say ‘I need to keep hold of this fella’. Of course we’re still a way away in terms of what that looks like.”

“I don’t think Liverpool are going to want to offer him five years or anything like that,” he said. “I think they’re going to want to protect themselves here. Do they give him another couple of years, is there a way of them kind of working that out? It’ll be interesting to see. And obviously then the question is, is Mac Allister happy to sign that? Is a club in Spain willing to offer him five years? We’re a long way from anything getting ironed out there, but I think you can see from the source there clearly that there’s got to be some truth to that. So, that’s interesting, it’s an interesting shift.

“There’s no denying whatsoever that he’s playing at an incredibly high level at the moment. He’s the one who most seems to get the manager’s instructions and he’s a real kind of leader for him on the pitch as well. So, if you can get something done shorter, and I am just speculating around that, you would probably be in favour.”

Lynch concludes by suggesting that the changes in circumstances at Liverpool this summer could very much be working in Mac Allister’s favour, with Iraola’s influence, as well as that of new sporting director Julian Ward – who was key in bringing him to Anfield in 2023 – combining to give him hope of staying with the Reds when it had seemed to be lost.

“Really interesting that at least talks have gone from ‘we’re not doing it at all’ as Liverpool to maybe a little bit of a softening of that stance,” he said.

“So, I think that kind of gives you a an idea of a few things going on behind the scenes there in terms of, as I say, Iraola’s influence, Mac Allister’s performance level and how that’s influenced things as well, and maybe, of course, a change in the sporting director, too. So, really interesting story.”