Alexis Mac Allister says he always used to study £30m Arsenal player, he’s ‘one of the best in the world’

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Alexis Mac Allister is one of the world’s best midfielders these days.

Indeed, the Liverpool ace is a World Cup winner and a Premier League champion, and his rise in recent years has been stratospheric.

The South American has become a superstar in recent times, and he’s improved leaps and bounds in recent years.

Interestingly, Mac Allister was linked to Arsenal once upon a time.

Writing in The Player’s Tribune, Mac Allister has been sharing some details of his rise to prominence, and he says that he actually used to study one Arsenal player when he was on the rise at Brighton.

Alexis Mac Allister used to study Martin Odegaard

Mac Allister spoke about how he used to train to improve under Roberto De Zerbi.

According to the Argentine, one of his big areas of focus was his awareness on the pitch, claiming that he used to work on his ability to profile a situation and be aware of what is around him.

Interestingly, Mac Allister says he and De Zerbi used to use Martin Odegaard as an example here, claiming that the Norwegian is one of the best in the world in this regard.

“When De Zerbi came in as our manager that next season, a few months before the World Cup, it changed everything for me. The main thing that he helped me improve was my scanning of the field — my “profiling” of the situation. Taking little mental pictures of the chess board every two seconds. We looked at Ødegaard as an example of this. For me, he’s one of the best in the world at scanning. His head never stops moving. De Zerbi gave me this gift, and it really elevated my game,” Mac Allister wrote

Martin Odegaard’s record vs Alexis Mac Allister

Mac Allister rates Odegaard as one of the best in the world in terms of profiling the pitch, and these two have had some interesting midfield battles over the years.

Indeed, while Mac Allister and Odegaard are direct rivals at Arsenal and Liverpool, these two also had some great clashes back when Mac Allister was at Brighton.

Interestingly, Mac Allister has got the better of Odegaard more often than not.

Arsenal and Liverpool may well define the title race again this season, and it could well be both Mac Allister and Odegaard who have a huge say on who wins the league this year.

Odegaard wasn’t at his best last year, but he’ll be hoping to rediscover his best form this time around.