Jürgen Klopp has found his new Philippe Coutinho who left five Liverpool players beaten

Jurgen Klopp came up against Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister six times before he brought him to Liverpool, but there's one moment from the 3-3 draw at Anfield last October that may have stuck with him more than most.

As Brighton looked to play its way through the Liverpool press, Moisés Caicedo fed a short pass slightly behind him.

Luis Díaz sensed an opportunity to pounce, but the midfielder was able to hold him off as he frantically tried to get a foot to the ball. From there he turned and bypassed Thiago before the Spaniard could intervene, and then simply glided past Fabinho and Harvey Elliott. Now beyond the halfway line, Mac Allister was about to make James Milner his next victim, but the wily veteran knew that he simply had to bring him down to halt the charge. He'd beaten four Liverpool players in one run and it would have been five.

There's perhaps no greater illustration of Mac Allister's dribbling ability than this. Across the last year, he ranks in the 82nd percentile among central midfielders in the big five leagues for successful take-ons per 90 minutes (1.31), and in the Premier League specifically, he placed sixth for his position last season with 42 successful dribbles.

Only Arsenal's Martin Ødegaard (49), Leicester's James Maddison (46), Newcastle's Bruno Guimarães, Aston Villa's John McGinn (45) and Wolves' Matheus Nunes (44) beat him. It's important to place this figure in context, because Mac Allister could theoretically just be attempting a lot of dribbles with limited success. Thankfully, though, while he does rank a little lower for dribble percentage (66.7 per cent), he remains in the top 10 (ninth, min. 1,000 mins and 20 successful take-ons).

Among Liverpool's incumbent midfielders, only Thiago (1.5 per 90 minutes) averaged more completed dribbles last season. The Spaniard boasted the highest success rate of any Premier League midfielder too at 84 per cent, so Mac Allister will still have to improve to hit those heights. There are also parallels with Philippe Coutinho, who led the way for dribbles per game in 2014/15, his last season as a predominant midfielder at Anfield.

What is it, then, that makes Mac Allister so good in these situations? Well, as you'd expect, it's largely down to his technical ability and intelligence. His close control enables him to manipulate the ball in tight spaces, and he'll also outwit his opponent, disguising his true intention to send them the wrong way. But that's not all.

Former teammate and ex-Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has said that Mac Allister isn't the quickest (via Graham Hunter), but that may be slightly unfair, because he does have a burst of acceleration in his locker to take him away from opponents. Indeed, the 24-year-old may be slightly underrated as an athlete, perhaps because people make assumptions based on his slight 5ft 9in frame. He's also deceptively strong, able to hold players off and use his body smartly.

It's no surprise that Mac Allister was fouled 1.78 times per 90 minutes on average last season, which again puts him in the 82nd percentile. Only Guimarães (83), Maddison (79) and McGinn (66) — all of whom were up there for successful take-ons, tellingly — were fouled more among the Premier League midfield crop last season. Mac Allister is so hard to dispossess, and so gifted with the ball at his feet, that opponents like Milner often have to resort to tripping him up.

This skill set is valuable to Liverpool for a few reasons. Mac Allister can contribute to the team's build-up phase because of his press resistance, he can progress the ball up the pitch and he can open teams by piercing their structure, as we saw at Anfield. Given the latter's poor fitness record, it's conceivable that Mac Allister will replace Thiago in the side for much of next season, and while those are big boots to fill, he's already shown Liverpool he has what it takes to be a worthy successor.