Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has opened up on the current transfer situation surrounding midfielder Alexis Mac Allister amid interest from Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham in the January window. The 23-year-old has had an impressive season with the Seagulls, which has only seen his stock rise.
Mac Allister took that a step further over the winter, where he was a stalwart in the central ranks for Argentina in the World Cup. He helped lead the nation to a third World Cup victory amongst superstars such as Lionel Messi in the side.
“I think Messi and Mac Allister speak the same language," Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi said on the midfielder after the triumph. "Messi understands very well the quality of Alexis. And I think Messi wanted players who speak the same language. The language of football."
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It has led to plenty of reported interest in Mac Allister as the winter window opens for business, with teams looking to reinforce their squads. Arsenal are one of those teams linked as they look to continue their crusade at the top of the Premier League table, while both Chelsea and Spurs are eyeing improvements in their team for the long-term.
However, according to Barber, there's yet to be any contact over a switch. He said, via the Argus: "In an ideal world our squad, which is as good as it has been for a long time, will remain intact through the whole of January and we will go into the second half of the season as we are. The next 30-odd days is unpredictable and we will deal with whatever comes in. But we are not offering anyone to anyone."
He then added on Mac Allister: "No – and we don’t want any [contact]. We are quite happy as we are, certainly for as long as we can be. But we are also realistic. Alexis Mac Allister has just won a World Cup at 23 years of age and has had a fantastic season with us.
"We know there is going to be interest in Alexis. We know Moises Caicedo is one of the top talents. We know Rob Sanchez is one of the world’s best young goalkeepers. This is normal, this is the world we wanted to operate in and this is the world we are operating in. We can’t be surprised when there is interest and at some point we have to accept that these players will go on to play at an even higher level than ours."
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