Brighton suspected Alexis Mac Allister wouldn’t be back to face Charlton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. He spent the week parading the streets of Buenos Aires, where an estimated four million Argentinians greeted their World Cup winning heroes with such enthusiasm that the procession had to be completed by helicopter.
A victory partly made in Falmer, Mac Allister made the run and with one touch, set away Angel Di Maria for a goal that epitomised his surprise role in the country’s triumph – but it will have come as no shock to his recruiters at Albion, who have made a habit of unearthing little-known prospects from around the globe, bringing them to the Premier League, and transforming them into superstars.
Unlike many clubs who work by region or country, Brighton employ specific scouts by position, with central midfield scouts, centre-back scouts, and forward scouts. A separate team of recruitment analysts use a data-led approach to assess which players will fit their system.
When they were looking for a left winger, Mac Allister’s first club Argentinos Juniors might not have seemed an obvious place to scour, but they do have some decent history. In 1976, Juniors discovered and quickly snapped up a local, Lanus-born 16-year-old forward: Diego Maradona. A decade on, they recruited another teenage left-back, a future Argentina international and one of Maradona’s personal friends. That was Carlos Mac Allister, Alexis’s father.
Brighton have made it a policy not to confine their search for new players to La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A or the Bundesliga, though one scout, Pablo Ibanez Tebar, is from Spain, where they found Marc Cucurella at Getafe. Elsewhere, though, Kaoru Mitoma came from Japan, Moises Caicedo from Ecuador and Leandro Trossard from Belgium. Before his early retirement, Enock Mwepu had previously played in Zambia and Austria.
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While the make-up of the scouting department has changed considerably in recent years, between 2014-2022 the operation was led by Paul Winstanley, before he left to join Graham Potter at Chelsea. Sam Jewell, the analyst who temporarily replaced Winstanley, particularly targets the South American market.
The question now will be whether Brighton can continue to mine hidden gems from around the world without Winstanley – especially as they have also had to find a new technical director in David Weir after Dan Ashworth moved to Newcastle.
Brighton’s brightest and best keep being offered these jobs because their reputation precedes them. They have sold Cucurella (bought for £15m) for £60m and Yves Bissouma (bought for £14m) for £25m. Academy scouts noticed Ben White as a 16-year-old released by Southampton and signed him for nothing. In 2021, they sold him to Arsenal for £50m.
Chief executive Paul Barber is pragmatic about the Seagulls’ prospects of keeping Mac Allister out of the clutches of Europe’s elite clubs. He hopes to “hold on to the player as long as possible, but this is a young man who has just won the World Cup at 23 and set up arguably one of the most iconic goals in World Cup history.”
Messi – Mac Allister – Di Maria
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 18, 2022
France are caught out on a swift counter attack as Argentina take control of the game with their second goal…#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/QCsZSYCuPL
“We knew it might take a bit of time because he was young and the league is very physically demanding,” Barber told the BBC of Mac Allister’s signing. “There’s not a lot of room for error either in the intensity of the game, but we felt he had all of those qualities.”
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Spectacular drone footage shows Argentina's epic World Cup victory party19 December, 2022One advantage of Brighton’s dependence on data is that they have already done most of the leg-work on signings like Mac Allister, and whether they will adapt to their way of playing. Data also helps clubs on a smaller budget to cut costs, as players can be brought to their attention via online databases – saving time and money identifying them in the first place.
If there is a magic formula, there is one rather obvious elephant in the Amex. Why can’t they score goals? Potter had an answer to that. “Two players scored 20 goals in the Premier League last year but I get asked don’t you just need a 20-goal striker? Absolutely, I’ll just ring [owner] Tony Bloom up and say ‘can we sign Harry Kane?’”
Bloom is an expert poker player and cards has taught him the difference small margins can make. The club’s forward-thinking approach has certainly paid off with Mac Allister.
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi revealed the first conversation he will have with Mac Allister will be regarding his preferred position, noting how well he complemented Lionel Messi in Qatar.
“Messi understands very well the quality of Alexis,” he said. “And I think Messi wanted players who speak the same language. The language of football… Messi was often looking for Alexis during the game and they passed a lot to each other.”
“Twenty-five years ago,” Barber added, “the thought of having a World Cup winner in our team was a pipe dream – and now it’s reality.”
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