FeatureAlexis Mac Allister joins LFC's Argentinian club
Alexis Mac Allister will become the seventh player born in Argentina to represent the Liverpool men's team.
A 2022 World Cup winner with his country, the midfielder has completed a switch to the Reds from fellow Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion on a long-term deal for an undisclosed fee.
He will provide an Argentinian presence in the Reds squad for the first time in more than a decade – here are the compatriots he has followed to Anfield…
Emiliano Insua
Left-back Insua was recruited from Boca Juniors in early 2007 in a loan deal that was turned into a permanent switch later the same year.
After five senior appearances across his first season-and-a-half on Merseyside, Insua featured on 10 occasions in the Premier League during 2008-09 as Liverpool finished second.
The next campaign – which would prove to be his last based with the club – saw the defender make the position his own with 43 starts in all competitions. Insua’s single goal for the Reds also came in that term, a spectacular half-volley from long range away against Arsenal in the League Cup.
He spent 2010-11 on loan with Galatasaray and then said farewell to the Reds permanently with a transfer to Sporting CP.
Sebastian Leto
Left winger Leto joined Liverpool from Lanus in his home country in the summer of 2007.
A debut for the club swiftly followed as he started a Champions League qualifier versus Toulouse at Anfield that Rafael Benitez’s Reds won 4-0.
Three more starts came his way during the opening months of that season, but they would be the last time supporters saw Leto in the Liverpool shirt.
He was on loan with Olympiacos for the 2008-09 campaign and then returned to Greece after a permanent deal was agreed with Panathinaikos the next summer.
Javier Mascherano
Following a short spell with West Ham United, Benitez swooped to bring combative midfielder Mascherano to Anfield on an initial loan deal in early 2007.
He provided an instant impact, showcasing his studious reading of the game and tackling ability in the centre of the park as Liverpool went on to reach that season’s Champions League final.
Mascherano’s transfer would be made permanent 12 months later and he joined forces with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard as Benitez’s team narrowly missed out on the Premier League title in 2008-09.
He remained with the Reds until the opening weeks of the 2010-11 campaign, racking up 139 appearances and scoring two goals, before departing to join FC Barcelona.
Gabriel Paletta
Buenos Aires-born Paletta joined Benitez’s FA Cup winners in the summer of 2006 from Banfield.
The centre-back made his Liverpool debut in a home League Cup tie with Reading in the October and marked the occasion with a goal in a 4-3 victory.
Further opportunities were few and far between, however, as Paletta – who later in his career represented Italy at international level – appeared seven more times during the remainder of the campaign.
In the summer of 2007 he moved to Boca Juniors as part of the transfer that brought Insua to Anfield, though would subsequently return to Europe and spend much of his career in Italian football.
Mauricio Pellegrino
Experienced defender Pellegrino spent a little over five months with Liverpool during Benitez’s maiden season on Merseyside.
Signed from Valencia on the fifth day of 2005, he would go on to play 13 games for the club, though was cup-tied and therefore not involved as the Reds won the Champions League that season.
He headed back to Spain and joined Alaves at the end of the campaign, but returned to Anfield as a first-team coach between 2008 and 2010.
Maxi Rodriguez
Maxi Rodriguez became a huge fan favourite in the space of just two-and-a-half years as a Liverpool player – and remains so.
He was brought in from Atletico Madrid in January 2010 by Benitez but would spend the majority of his Reds career under the tutelage of Kenny Dalglish.
The attacking midfielder’s spell at Anfield yielded 73 appearances and 17 goals overall, including hat-tricks against Birmingham City and Fulham in the final weeks of 2010-11.
Rodriguez was also part of the squad that lifted the League Cup at Wembley and reached the FA Cup final in 2011-12, before heading to Newell’s Old Boys at the end of that campaign.
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