Alexis Mac Allister Says He Is ‘Very Sad’ Liverpool Will Not Renew His Contract

• Alexis Mac Allister has revealed Liverpool told him this summer that the club is not in a position to offer him a new contract, a decision he says makes him “very, very sad.”
• The 27-year-old midfielder has two years left on the deal he signed when he joined from Brighton in 2023, and says he had options to leave Anfield in the summer transfer window.
• Team-mates Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch have both signed new long-term contracts this year, a contrast Mac Allister says leaves him happy for them and a little sad for himself.

Mac Allister Chose Liverpool Anyway, Even Knowing the Answer

Alexis Mac Allister stood in front of the media on Monday and said something most footballers in his position never say out loud. He was not dropped. He was not injured. He was simply told, by his own agent rather than in a direct conversation with the club, that Liverpool were “not in a position” to give him a new contract. “That makes me very, very sad,” he said.

What makes the timing sting is what came right before it. Mac Allister had chances to leave Anfield in the summer. He turned them down. He is still there, still starting games, and still facing a squad photo where two of his midfield partners just got the security he was refused.

Two Team-mates Signed New Deals. He Did Not.

Mac Allister signed for Liverpool from Brighton in the summer of 2023. Three years on, with two years still left on that contract, he finds himself the odd man out in his own midfield. Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch have both put pen to paper on new long-term deals this year. Mac Allister has not.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid, he did not try to hide how that felt. “As everyone knows, I received the news that the club was not in a position to offer me a new contract, which makes me very, very sad,” he said.

He was careful not to turn it into a complaint about his team-mates. “I see Dominik and Ryan renewing their contracts, and that makes me very happy, they deserve it, but at the same time it makes me a little bit sad that I didn’t get mine,” he said. “Of course, there is still time. The fans don’t need to worry. I will give my 100 per cent until the last day I’m here.”

Asked directly whether he had been given a reason for the decision, Mac Allister said the club had not even raised it with him in person. “Not really. There wasn’t any direct conversation with me – it was with my agent,” he said. “I don’t want to say things they never said, but what I got from my agent was that they were not in a position to renew me.”

The Offers Were There. He Stayed Anyway.

Mac Allister was linked with a move to Manchester City this summer, and he confirmed there was substance behind it. “There were options to leave this summer, and I think right now I’m in the right club and I have the mindset to give my 100 per cent for this club,” he said.

Pressed on why he did not take one of those routes out, given how the contract situation had already been signalled, his answer was not about money or minutes. This is the right club, he said. “I love being here, and this is something special,” he added. “As a player, you can be at a club for a long, long time and you don’t really realise where you are – that doesn’t happen to me. I know very well that this is an amazing club, that this city has something very special and I love being here.”

He also pushed back gently on the idea that not getting a new deal meant Liverpool had lost faith in him. “It’s really sad. We won a Premier League together, we’ve been through difficult times together, and I always give my best,” he said. “We will see what happens, but of course it makes me a little bit sad.”

Iraola Says There Is Still Time to Talk

Mac Allister has started Liverpool’s last two league games, a draw at home to Nottingham Forest and a win at Ipswich that kept new head coach Andoni Iraola unbeaten in his opening games in charge. He confirmed he has not personally discussed his contract with the Spaniard. “I haven’t had any conversations with him about it,” he said. “When I see the way he wants us to play and train, I think this can be a successful season so that’s why I think this is the right club and the right moment to be here.”

Iraola, for his part, cast the situation as unfinished business rather than a closed door. “We all have personal situations with different contracts. The important thing is he wants to be here and continue here,” the head coach said. “We haven’t been together a long time but he has been an important player and I rate him very highly. Definitely there is still a lot of time to talk about those contract situations.”

Iraola added that he was pleased with what he had seen from Mac Allister on the pitch after taking charge. “I am very happy with his performances – he played really well on Friday and I hope I can help him to still improve,” he said. “He is very experienced player who has already achieved massive things, but I hope I can help him in his development as a player and then everything goes well then those problems will definitely be solved.”

A Title, a Cup, and Numbers That Are Sliding

Mac Allister was a key part of Liverpool’s 2024/25 Premier League title win, having also won the Carabao Cup the season before that. He does not see this contract situation as a verdict on that record. “Not really, I’m always the same guy and player, and I’m not going to change,” he said, asked whether he had anything to prove this season. “I think in these three years at the club I’ve done very good things. We went through difficult times; we went through a lot of things. We won a Premier League, we won a Carabao Cup, so for me it’s a very successful period of my life. I don’t think I have to prove something, but of course I have to show the level that I can perform, and hopefully that’s the case.”

The underlying data gives some context for why Liverpool might be pausing on a renewal. According to quality ratings from data provider Gradient, Mac Allister’s overall output has dipped season on season in each year he has been at Liverpool. Separate per-90-minute data from Opta shows a decline in his output relative to midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues, with the sharpest drop in his defensive numbers. He has gone from ranking among the continent’s elite in several defensive metrics to sitting near the bottom of that group.

None of that changes what Mac Allister said about his own effort. Asked whether talks over a new deal were even ongoing, his answer left the door open without pretending to know the outcome. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s going to depend on how I perform this year,” he said. “They are right to make the decision as well, but hopefully they change their minds.”

That single line, crediting the club for a decision that clearly hurt him while still hoping it gets reversed, sums up where Mac Allister has landed. He is not fighting Liverpool. He is not threatening to leave. He is simply saying, in public, that being told no still stings, even from a club he chose to stay at when he had a way out.

What Happens From Here

Liverpool’s stance leaves Mac Allister with two full seasons to change the club’s mind, or to let the contract run down to a point where his value on the market starts to fall. Iraola’s comments suggest the club sees this as something to revisit rather than a final answer, and Mac Allister’s own performances over the coming months, starting with a Champions League campaign against sides like Atletico Madrid, will shape whether that conversation restarts sooner rather than later.

For now, he remains one of the first names on Iraola’s team sheet, unbeaten in his two league starts under the new head coach, and by his own account still giving everything for a club that has just told him it is not ready to commit back. It is an unusual position for a Premier League title winner to be in, and an even more unusual one for him to describe so openly.