Confirmed – Alexis Mac Allister is a Brighton & Hove Albion player
One of the strangest transfer sagas that Brighton have ever been involved in has reached a happy conclusion with the confirmation that Alexis Mac Allister is now an Albion player.
The Albion found themselves in the ridiculous position of having to take part in a week-long bidding way to sign their own player.
It’s one we’ve finally won with Mac Allister biding a sad farewell to Boca Juniors after only six months of playing for the club he’d always dreamed of representing.
Mac Allister initially signed for Brighton for £7m last January but was unable to secure a work permit to come to the United Kingdom.
As a result, he finished the 2018-19 season with Argentinos Juniors. In the summer, Brighton packed Mac Allister off on a season-long loan to Boca for a cool £2 million loan fee.
Seemingly, nobody thought it might be prudent to insert a clause into the deal which would specifically state how he could be recalled should the need arise.
Mac Allister – who has since become an Argentine international during his time at Boca – was then granted a surprise work permit in the middle of January. The Albion could now bring him to the Premier League – providing they could prise him away from Boca.
As a result, the Seagulls have been forced into the ludicrous situation of having to try and ‘buy’ their own player from the club they’d loaned him to.
Even more ludicrous was that the Albion’s first bid of £500,000 was rejected by Boca. Yes, we had an offer turned down for our own player. The clubs have since agreed on a fee said to be worth around £700,000 – £500,000 up front and another £200,000 should we still be in the Premier League come end of the season.
As much as we are enjoying the whole “We’ve had to buy our own bloody player” angle, the Albion have actually done quite well out of this.
The initial £7 million paid to Argentinos effectively became £5 million when you take away the loan fee Boca paid for Mac Allister’s services.
We’ve then refunded Boca £700,000; total it all up and what appears on the surface to be a complete farce has actually reduced our outlay on Mac Allister to £5.7 million.
Not only that, but he’s picked up vital experience playing in the Copa Libertadores. There’s also an argument that he would never have been capped by Argentina if he hadn’t have been playing regular first team football for one of the biggest clubs in South America.
Mac Allister got to play for the club of his dreams too. He grew up a fan and both his father Carlos and his brother Kevin have played for Boca. Yes, his brother really is called Kevin. Better hope Boca never draw Inter Miami in a cup competition as Kevin would probably board the wrong flight and end up in New York.
The Boca faithful have taken Brighton exercising their recall option with good grace. On Twitter, Mac Allister has been subjected to a range of death threats and hopes that he suffers a career ending injury. You stay classy, Argentina.
It will still be a while yet before we see Mac Allister in a Brighton shirt. He’s currently taking part in Olympic qualification with Argentina Under 23s with the earliest that he could make his Albion debut being the trip to Sheffield United on February 22nd.
Should Graham Potter chose to give him some time to acclimatise, then his first game for Brighton could come a week later. The opponents? Crystal Palace. A chance for instant hero status right there.
