Alexis Mac Allister has proven he is a world-class footballer. Now, he can take the next step and become a leader at Liverpool, if he hasn’t already begun up that mantle.When the season got underway at a sun-drenched Portman Road back in August 2024, Liverpool had a rapidly emerging problem.New boss Arne Slot stood on the touchline with a furrowed brow and clenched teeth, the club recently placed under his stewardship failing to click to his widely rehearsed tune.It may have been quite literally day one, but Slot was having none of it with no time for teething problems. At the first time of asking, it was a certain midfield metronome who played a beautifully understated role in stitching together a maiden victory on the boss’ first outing; that man was of course Alexis Mac Allister.Going back to lift-off day helps nicely illustrate what a sublime season Mac Allister has just put in for the title-winning Reds. It’s not at all hyperbolic to reflect upon Mac Allister’s 2024/25 offerings as iconic and one for the annals.Still feeling a little leggy from a disrupted pre-season and a hastily squeezed-in holiday before the season commenced, Mac Allister managed to shake off the rust and play a driving role at Ipswich in not only easing Ryan Gravenberch into his freshly appointed No. 6 berth but also ensuring Slot’s team were balanced enough going forward to present a penetrative threat to newly promoted kids on the block.Watch the match highlights back, notice the spaces Mac Allister takes up and how he constantly presents himself as a handy foil or supplementary cog in almost every instance.It wasn’t as easy on the eye or as hypnotically aesthetic as an artist lashing paint against a canvas as some Mac Allister performances can be, but it was entirely vital and necessary for the task at hand. And, this season, that has been the little Argentine all over.Of course, he has since done this time and time again such is his role as Liverpool’s multi-faceted man and supreme ball-playing extraordinaire, but on day dot against Ipswich, it was vital.Mac Allister, that afternoon, not only helped the Reds chisel a foothold into the match and earn three points, but he also set the early wheels in motion for how Liverpool were going to ebb and flow in the months ahead. The final productMac Allister looked very much at ease from his debut in a red shirt, and he played a crucial role in ensuring Jurgen Klopp‘s farewell season brought in silverware, but already the No. 10 looks very much the finished product.At 26 years old, he will still get better, but in terms of being a complete midfielder and well-rounded footballer, the World Cup winner is already there.This time around, Mac Allister has led from the centre of everything, championing Slot’s more possession and control-based approach while also ensuring the Liverpool midfield remain constantly on the front foot and harrying opponents into mistakes, before counter-attacking at the click of two fingers.Mac Allister has floated this season where rivals have lumbered through the middle of the park, gliding across turf up and down the country while solving riddles and picking holes. The dynamic star has clearly been one of the key beneficiaries of fitness coach Ruben Peeters’ delicately arranged schedule, in keeping the hard-milers in the squad fit and healthy. Mac Allister’s distance covered this season fell in the top percentile both in domestic and European duties which all but presents the obvious; he either loves being on the ball or in and around it.If Mac Allister isn’t making something happen, he’s facilitating the play around the active zone in order for someone else to do so.Mac Allister is the cement that layers between every brick that is Liverpool Football Club, and next season we’ll be blessed with him doing more of the same, with the added enhancement of now being a bonafide senior Reds player and the confidence boost this naturally brings. A pure footballing brain with sublime visionMac Allister has a pure footballing brain, placed upon the legs of a very accomplished athlete.He comes from a footballing family, so being cut from the right cloth was never going to be an issue. But what we’re seeing now is a player who constantly wants to learn on the job, despite being one of the world’s best in his own right.This season we saw the natural vision of Mac Allister shining through. The YouTube nerds could have a field day in splicing together those compilations of ‘players scanning’ when it comes to the Argentine, who surveys and calculates every square inch of the pitch in front of him like a chess player pondering 10 moves ahead.While Klopp’s final year may have presented a more dynamic and tenacious Mac Allister, this season under Slot’s firm instance of controlled chaos, the midfield maestro has come across a lot more like the recently departed Thiago Alcantara.Now, with Dominik Szoboszlai constantly running around like Pheidippides on his mission to Sparta, and Gravenberch comfortable operating in the snug pivot ahead of Virgil van Dijk, Mac Allister has been somewhat freed to occupy the pockets and channels, while making opposition overloads all but impossible.Take the away fixture at St James’ Park as a key example, as Liverpool battled to a 3-3 draw back in December. Mac Allister’s string-pulling was highly commended, as his vision in finding Salah to set up Curtis Jones‘ equaliser typified everything that opponents were quickly growing to hate about him.Picking up the ball deep in the centre circle, Mac Allister’s delicately caressed touch opened space and instinctively signalled to the first-pressing man, in this instance Alexander Isak, to hold off.It was a criminal error, as Mac Allister’s vision then allowed him to map in seconds the marauding run of Salah down the right flank and pick out the Egyptian King with a gorgeous, deft pitching-wedge clip of his right foot.The ball flew effortlessly the best part of 40 yards and took out no fewer than four Newcastle personnel, before landing gently into the in-step of Salah who fed Jones.Lovely, light, almost languid football – and almost completely impossible to replicate. Easy on the eye yet unachievable for most.Liverpool knew exactly what they were doing when they brought in Mac Allister, and thinking about him not operating in this new-era Liverpool team genuinely sends a shudder down the spine. A natural hunger to winSlot inherited not only talent and ability when he was handed a team containing Mac Allister but also a level of hunger which is not exactly evident in some players.Interview any footballer and they’ll reel off a life-goals list of winning silverware and entertaining the fans etc, but only a handful of stars really get to tick those boxes.With Mac Allister having arrived at Anfield already the owner of a World Cup winners medal, achieved operating in tandem with Lionel Messi, success couldn’t just be an ambition. It had to be boxed off immediately.His rapid improvement under Klopp meant Mac Allister quickly became a player who could walk into any team in the world, and it came as little surprise that Slot placed all of his chips on the former Brighton man being the one to drive Liverpool to a title charge in his first campaign. The mantle of a ‘big-game player’ is thrown around a lot and often too carelessly, but this season Mac Allister convincingly earned this.He is the man opposition players watch out for when they share the same pitch, already of the knowledge that his level of performance will largely dictate what Liverpool are to get from the game. Steven Gerrard aura, anyone?When Real Madrid trudged out at Anfield during the newly formatted league phase of the Champions League, something very special was about to happen, and it felt like there was only going to be one man who would run the show.Consider the many variables in play: Liverpool’s tense recent history with Madrid, the Jude Bellingham tussle and a subsequent midfield rebuild after its conclusion, a new Reds boss taking on a familiar foe and having to battle valiantly with the tools Klopp left.Mac Allister decided that evening would belong to him, and not a single person inside Anfield would have disputed the man of the match award that was presented to his beaming and exhausted self seconds after the final whistle. A comprehensive 2-0 win, a goal for Mac Allister and a performance for the ages.The Argentine nullified Arda Guler, left Bellingham in a quandary on whether to stick or twist and put far too much on Luka Modric’s plate for the football icon to deal with.Everything Mac Allister did was fluid and intentional with zero wasted energy and no superfluous flourishes. It was an evening for getting things done and boy did Liverpool make the reigning champions look ordinary.Observe Mac Allister’s opener; dropping off centrally into space to allow Szoboszlai to meander inside. Panic sparks, but he has already offered the give-and-go. He accepts possession, but instead exchanges an alternative give-and-go of his own, utilising a confident Conor Bradley fresh off the back of battering Kylian Mbappe.The return pass is deft, Mac Allister is appreciative and the ball is already stubbed with intent into the far bottom corner of the Kop End goal before Thibaut Courtois can blink.Really high-level, enviable football. Beautifully repeatable for those with a high enough talent range but devilishly difficult to copy for those without.Mac Allister’s hunger shone through, and now we find ourselves blessed with a rather novel situation of Liverpool’s most gifted midfielder now craving a Champions League medal to complete his collection of the highest honours.Last season was poetry in motion from Mac Allister, yet it still seems the best is somehow yet to come. Liverpool hit the lottery with this lad, and my incredibly early punt is the PFA Player of the Season next year. You heard it here first.Best moment: The Madrid masterclass and seizing the derby by the scruff of the neck to ensure Everton left Anfield with nothing, despite James Tarkowski’s potentially leg-breaking tackle.Worst moment: Understandably struggled with fatigue in the games following international travel, but this lad didn’t put a foot out of line.Role next season: Crucial asset, one of the first names on the team sheet, hopefully leading the Reds to Champions League glory and a title defence.* Read all our player-by-player season reviews here