Stuttgart forward Nicholas Gonzalez spotted in Alexis Mac Allister’s house

Is Brighton & Hove Albion’s search for a new forward over? On Sunday night, Alexis Mac Allister posted a photo to his Instagram account of himself and Stuttgart striker Nicholas Gonzalez sat in Mac Allister’s living room in Brighton.

There are two possible explanations as to what Gonzalez was doing paying a visit to his Argentinian team mate. One is that he was just saying hello to a friend who he played with at Argentinos Juniors. The other is that he was in England for talks or a medical about a move from his current Bundesliga employers.

The first of those scenarios seems unlikely – and would land Mac Allister in hot water if it were true. Brighton’s players must have their social interactions carefully managed to reduce the risk of them catching coronavirus and potentially passing it onto their teammates.

Mac Allister having a bloke who has flown in from Germany visit him in his home would break those rules. Given how seriously the Albion have taken the pandemic since its outbreak, they are sure to be pretty pissed off with Mac Allister for putting everyone at the club at risk.

Stuttgart themselves would not have sanctioned their star striker popping over to England either for just a cup of tea and a catch up. Not only is the United Kingdom classified by the German government as being a risk zone, but they are in the middle of their own pre-season. You do not allow a player to pop off on holiday at such a crucial stage when your first competitive game is two weeks away.

Which points to the fact that Nicholas Gonzalez is in the UK to complete a deal – presumably with Brighton. He was linked with the Albion and The Leeds United earlier in the summer by The Guardian, although the story was rubbished by Andy Naylor.

We know to take what Naylor says with a pinch of salt, given that he and The Argus both operate as little more than a mouthpiece for the club at times.

If Brighton told their friendly press to deny the story in an attempt to keep the deal under wraps, then that would be why Naylor said it was a non-starter. Neither he nor The Argus have so far commented on Gonzalez and Mac Allister hanging out together, which is telling.

Might Gonzalez have popped in to see Mac Allister on his way to completing a deal with Leeds or another Premier League club? Again, that seems unlikely as it would involve Mac Allister breaking his social bubble. Leeds would not be happy at their new star striker risking a visit to his mate 258 miles away from Elland Road ahead of a move.

Whilst The Guardian piece quoted a fee of £15 million for Gonzalez’s services, Stuttgart’s sporting director Thomas Hitzlsperger said last week, “Let’s be honest: If someone comes on October 1st and puts a fabulous sum of €30 million plus on the table for Nico or another player, who should refuse something like that?”

€30 million currently translates to £26 million, which would make Gonzalez Brighton’s record buy. At 22, he has sell-on potential but that still seems like a big amount of money to fork out on a player who has spend most of his career as a left sided forward, making him like-for-like with Leandro Trossard.

Interestingly, Gonzalez was used more centrally by Stuttgart in Bundesliga 2 last season. The result was that he scored 15 times and claimed four assists to help Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side finish as runners up.

His record in the top flight of German football is less inspiring, with two goals from 30 matches in which he was mainly used out on the left.

We know that Potter values players who are versatile, and Gonzalez certainly seems to fit that bill. His potential acquisition can also be viewed as a replacement for Jose Izquierdo, who has not kicked a ball for 18 months.

If Izquierdo’s career is sadly over through injury as we have long suspected, then a watch of Gonzalez’s highlights reel suggests his rapid pace and trickery would fill the void left by the Colombian.

There is one small fact which throws a deal into doubt. Gonzalez played for Stuttgart 24 hours prior to Mac Allister posting the photo of them together in Brighton, scoring a penalty in a 2-0 friendly win over Arminia Bielefeld.

Would the Bundesliga outfit really have risked playing a man they could be about to cash in on within 24 hours in a pre-season friendly? If Nicholas Gonzalez picked up a knock, then he would be kissing goodbye to his chance in the Premier League with Brighton and Stuttgart would be missing out on up to £26 million.

Whatever the outcome of Mac Allister sharing a post with Gonzalez in his living room, the powers that be at Brighton are going to be pretty cheesed off with the weekend’s events.

Either Mac Allister himself has had a guest fly in from Germany to break his social bubble. Or Brighton are looking at a third leak of information from the club in a week, this time regarding a new signing.

The yellow away kit found its way onto Twitter after months of the Albion trying to keep it under wraps for a big reveal. Then somebody in the media department announced Aaron Mooy leaving for Shanghai SIPG before they were meant to.

Throw in Aaron Connolly revealing the score of a top secret, no-media-allowed friendly against Portsmouth and it has not been a good time for Paul Barber’s attempts to control the news.

It will be interesting to see how this one pans out over the coming days. Have Brighton signed Nicholas Gonzalez from Stuttgart? Watch this space.