Alexis Mac Allister | Moves to Liverpool for 35m according to Romano

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UTAretro said:
Well yes, they can, and they will I’m sure in the summer. But Brighton hold all the cards you see; they aren’t obliged anymore in this day and age to sell just because a bigger club said “right, I’ll take him, him and him”. Brighton set the prices, not the buying club or its fans - or social media!

I suspect Tony Bloom would be happy to be left alone with his squad. The club don’t want or need to sell under his stewardship, which is why the fees are so high.
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I don’t think anybody is saying they can waltz in and take your players though?
It just rings false to me when any Brighton player is mentioned fees of 90/100m for most players are being banded around when even the likes of City or Madrid wouldn’t bring in such estimates.
Unless Brighton have leaked out they’re not selling Mac Allister anywhere?
 
I’ll be surprised if no one snaps him up in the summer. Would be a decent signing a good squad option. Would probably be a 2nd choice target though if we missed out on the CL.
 
Dannn411 said:
Not a chance in hell. Brighton might price Ferguson alone at £90m and that would be cheap. A starting PL and international striker at 18 when Grealish went for £100m, Antony and Mudryk went for £90m and Enzo went for £110m? Good luck with that. Its going to be closer to £200m on both players but even at today's prices, I'm willing to spend that amount on both. They are PL-tested and young and Ferguson looks like the next great striker from the British Isles. If Fergie was here today, he would spend £100m on Ferguson in an instant and I think it is something we have to explore. At least make one or two good offers and test Brighton's resolve.

Unfortunately we have to sell a lot of players to be able to afford these guys AND still address other crucial areas (a deep lying controlling midfielder, a right back and another CB for Varane) but a mass clearout has been a long time coming.
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Yeah both of them will be £70m each at least. The idea that Brighton would bend over and sell their best players to United for below their market value is silly.
 
Shakesey said:
How can I annoy myself less when I instinctively emphasize 'Mac' and then 'Allister', as if constantly reminding myself that it's two words?

I don't say 'Van'. 'Persie'. I say 'Vanpersie'.

Infuriating.
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The lower case v makes all the difference.
 
cyberman said:
I don’t think anybody is saying they can waltz in and take your players though?
It just rings false to me when any Brighton player is mentioned fees of 90/100m for most players are being banded around when even the likes of City or Madrid wouldn’t bring in such estimates.
Unless Brighton have leaked out they’re not selling Mac Allister anywhere?
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The point is, my learned friend, none of them are for sale and all have solid contracts with no release clauses. It’s more what fee it would take for Brighton to accept rather than what I, personally, as a fan value them at.

I know the prices sound outrageous - but it is the reality of things in 2023. The club don’t want to sell. Any offer Brighton accept will be huge because otherwise they won’t sell.

Back to Mac Allister, he would be an excellent player for any of the top sides, in my opinion. He can play CDM in a double pivot with Caicedo or Groß for us, and equally as a number ten (his preferred position, and where he plays frequently for Argentina). I think that versatility alone makes him very desirable to teams, because he won’t let you down in either position.

His strengths are he is very strong in possession, has the ability to take it on the half-turn and quickly find a forward pass. He is not afraid to tackle, and will challenge and work his socks off. He is very competitive, without being badge-thumping and artificial. He can pick a pass in a crowded final third against a low block, has excellent ball control and timing/weight on through passes.

His weaknesses are that he doesn’t have blistering pace - that isn’t his game. He’s no slouch, but he’s the one playing the through balls more than racing onto them. His finishing is also quite wayward and should probably have had 4-5 more goals this season with better, calmer finishing.
 
UTAretro said:
£90m for Ferguson and Mac Allister would of course be fantastic for you, but in reality it would be closer to to £90m each.
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It'll all depend on how much the player pressures, no one is paying that much for those players but if a fair offer arrives and Brighton doesn't accept it the player may be in discomfort and push for the move.

Let's say another offer for Caicedo comes in the summer and Brighton refuses again, I don't imagine Caicedo being happy about it. Ultimately he'll be frustrated and down tools.

Of course Brighton has the last word, but a huge part of convincing promising players to join is knowing they will be allowed to move to a bigger club if/when the opportunity arrives. If Brighton makes a reputation for themselves of not letting players leave that will hurt them for their recruitment for sure.

Ultimately is about having a good balance between letting your players go for the right amount.
 
luke511 said:
Would much rather us sign Caicedo instead
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Would be a bit of a cheat code to sign both seeing how well that midfield have done against a few of the best teams in the world. Two young players too. If we could spend, and spend heavily, we should seriously consider that.

I think Mac is attrative as he is both a solution as 8 and 10. Would we play both Casemiro and Caicedo? Considering EtH wanted Eriksen as a partner for Casemiro and are really keen on FdJ it would be a surprise to me.
 
SAFMUTD said:
It'll all depend on how much the player pressures, no one is paying that much for those players but if a fair offer arrives and Brighton doesn't accept it the player may be in discomfort and push for the move.

Let's say another offer for Caicedo comes in the summer and Brighton refuses again, I don't imagine Caicedo being happy about it. Ultimately he'll be frustrated and down tools.

Of course Brighton has the last word, but a huge part of convincing promising players to join is knowing they will be allowed to move to a bigger club if/when the opportunity arrives. If Brighton makes a reputation for themselves of not letting players leave that will hurt them for their recruitment for sure.

Ultimately is about having a good balance between letting your players go for the right amount.
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Again the important bit here is when you say “fair offer”. What may be a fair offer from one club’s perspective may not be an acceptable one to the selling club. If the club don’t want to sell, the player is under contract, and we’ve established the club never does release clauses, then you either pay what Brighton want as the fee or don’t get the player.

Examples of this include;

Brighton publicly turned down a £30m offer for Ben White from Leeds. In Leeds’ eyes it was a “fair offer” - the guy had never played a game in the Premier League. Brighton wanted to keep their player - less than a year later Brighton accept their version of a fair offer and sell to Arsenal for £50m. £30m - £50m.

Brighton turned down £35m then £40m for Marc Cucurella from Manchester City. The player effectively went on strike at not being allowed to move, and was sent home. Manchester City wouldn’t go higher. Brighton weren’t going to sell at that price whether the player was unhappy or not Chelsea showed interest and the player moved there for £63m.

With those two deals alone, Brighton playing hardball added an additional £48m to the initial declined transfer offers.

You do make an interesting point about allowing younger players to use the club as a pathway to the top. I imagine this is a huge pitch and bonus as far as persuading hot talent to join, rather than a hindrance. E.g Sanchez - joined at age 16, now in the Spanish squad. Mac Allister joined from Argentinian football, now a World Cup winner. Caicedo joined from Ecuadorean football, now on the brink of a move to either the Champions, or one of the top sides in the world.

I don’t think it’s a concern for Bloom, certainly as things stand. I think it’s a lot more likely a young player will look at Mac Allister/Caicedo/Ferguson and say “that could be me next”.
 
We first need to sign some of Brighton's scouts since they are superior to what we have.
 
I prefer him to Caicedo. He really produced in the WC final which is the sort of personality you want at a big club. Someone that is present in the big matches and takes responsibility. This is in addition to good PL performance.

I actually don't think his skillset is that of a world beater but I do think he's very good.
 
UTAretro said:
Again the important bit here is when you say “fair offer”. What may be a fair offer from one club’s perspective may not be an acceptable one to the selling club. If the club don’t want to sell, the player is under contract, and we’ve established the club never does release clauses, then you either pay what Brighton want as the fee or don’t get the player.

Examples of this include;

Brighton publicly turned down a £30m offer for Ben White from Leeds. In Leeds’ eyes it was a “fair offer” - the guy had never played a game in the Premier League. Brighton wanted to keep their player - less than a year later Brighton accept their version of a fair offer and sell to Arsenal for £50m. £30m - £50m.

Brighton turned down £35m then £40m for Marc Cucurella from Manchester City. The player effectively went on strike at not being allowed to move, and was sent home. Manchester City wouldn’t go higher. Brighton weren’t going to sell at that price whether the player was unhappy or not Chelsea showed interest and the player moved there for £63m.

With those two deals alone, Brighton playing hardball added an additional £48m to the initial declined transfer offers.

You do make an interesting point about allowing younger players to use the club as a pathway to the top. I imagine this is a huge pitch and bonus as far as persuading hot talent to join, rather than a hindrance. E.g Sanchez - joined at age 16, now in the Spanish squad. Mac Allister joined from Argentinian football, now a World Cup winner. Caicedo joined from Ecuadorean football, now on the brink of a move to either the Champions, or one of the top sides in the world.

I don’t think it’s a concern for Bloom, certainly as things stand. I think it’s a lot more likely a young player will look at Mac Allister/Caicedo/Ferguson and say “that could be me next”.
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The fair offer meaning the player considering it fair. No player is going to argue against a club not selling cheaply they understand. But Caicedo made a fuss about Brighton don't letting him go for 70M.

They calmed him down, maybe they explained it wasn't the right time in the window, but as I said if arsenal or another club comes back with a similar offer I don't think Caicedo would be happy if they still block the move.

Unless the youngsters are hard fans for small clubs, it's has happened but it's not very common, they all be looking to move for big clubs if offered the possibility. So the whole I could be the next "Caicedo, Mac Allister, Ferguson" meaning I could start at Brighton and then move on to a bigger club rather than being a good/great player in Brighton.
 
Nicoseth said:
Just me or is he a little overhyped? No doubt a good player, but for the money that Brighton would want I'm sure there are better options.
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Without a doubt, 100M for a youngster who's not even a starter and has less than a season in professional football?

The risk is too much, if he makes it big his price would increase how much? 40-50M maximum. But for all we know he could end up being just an average striker on a purple patch. No one is risking 100M on that.
 
SAFMUTD said:
The fair offer meaning the player considering fair. No player is going to argue against a club not wanting to leave cheaply they understand. But Caicedo made a fuss about Brighton don't letting him go for 70M.

They calmed him down, maybe they explained it wasn't the right time in the window, but as I said if arsenal or another club comes back with a similar offer I don't think Caicedo would be happy in they still block the move.

Unless the youngsters are hard fans for small clubs, it's has happened but it's not very common, they all be looking to move for big clubs if offered the possibility. So the whole I could be the next "Caicedo, Mac Allister, Ferguson" meaning I could start at Brighton and then move on to a bigger club rather than being a good/great player in Brighton.
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I completely agree re: Caicedo and personally I believe there is a strong possibility the player will move in the summer.

It is worth reiterating however, he did sign a new contract after the January drama. The price certainly won’t be cheaper, I’ll put it that way.
 
UTAretro said:
I completely agree re: Caicedo and personally I believe there is a strong possibility the player will move in the summer.

It is worth reiterating however, he did sign a new contract after the January drama. The price certainly won’t be cheaper, I’ll put it that way.
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Yes I'm not saying Brighton will be twisted into selling cheaply. They won't they have the upper hand, don't need the money, have the players on long contracts and are overachieving against the initial expectations so the squad morale is high.

They'll get great transfer fees, but should be realistic in the sense that the players don't feel they been overpriced and that they're moves are being blocked because of it.

Anyway Brighton scouting is so great that I wouldn't worry for them, they have managed to replace every player they've let go heck even the manager with a very low budget. That's a winning combo, as long as their recruitment continue to be on point they'll keep unearthing gems.

Like you said it's not like a Dortmund situation where they get the youngsters everyone wants, Brighton is getting unknowns from all over the world that turn out to be actually good players.
 
andersj said:
Would be a bit of a cheat code to sign both seeing how well that midfield have done against a few of the best teams in the world. Two young players too. If we could spend, and spend heavily, we should seriously consider that.

I think Mac is attrative as he is both a solution as 8 and 10. Would we play both Casemiro and Caicedo? Considering EtH wanted Eriksen as a partner for Casemiro and are really keen on FdJ it would be a surprise to me.
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Caicedo would come in as cover for Casemiro and as a defensive 8 option too, so he would basically replace McTominay and Fred at once. I'm also convinced Casemiro and Caicedo would make a menacing combination as the deepest 2 midfielders against tough opposition as they're both very all rounded, with 2 playmakers, one as a 10 and one on the wing, in front of them.

Seeing how many points we drop and how much worse off we are without Casemiro, I would put a quality second DM that can also play as an 8 as a higher priority to someone like Macallister. Currently we have Eriksen, Fred, Bruno, McTominay, Mainoo, Mejbri and Iqbal that can play as an 8, Bruno, Eriksen, Amad and maybe Sancho that can play as a 10 but only Casemiro that can reliably play as a 6. I'd go as far as saying we don't really stand a chance winning the league without a quality back up DM, as Casemiro loves a card and is only getting older.
 
This signing will endanger some of our fan favourites and it will not work out for him.

You should only come to United on big money transfer if your position is vacant. This is based on recent patterns (2001 - 2023). We already have Bruno as captain and same player in terms of role in team, as fans we have pitched our wagon on him and we will not entertain his position being under threat. We will always watch him to look for reasons why he should not playing ahead of Bruno. Same with Antony and how Sancho should be given his games to rediscover his form.
At United we don’t facilitate competition and don’t operate on the premise players have to compete in house because if a Rashford gets dropped it stops being about football it becomes about his image rights. This is the reason why we have not been able to put together a competing team since SAF retired.
Till 1999 I can’t remember a single player who’s position wasn’t under threat which led to ability of the group to constantly progress but something changed after.
Any way this will be a Veron signing for us. Veron never stopped being a good footballer, he was not a Paul Scholes nor was he a Lampard. Alexis is not a Bruno and this will go against he at United. It’s only took our current form for people to start accepting Eriksen can be rotated in 10 position. Early in the season when he played that position people start questioning his ability. Go figure where the root of that opinion was.

It’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it. I like this lad and United will be an awful move for him.
 
luke511 said:
Caicedo would come in as cover for Casemiro and as a defensive 8 option too, so he would basically replace McTominay and Fred at once. I'm also convinced Casemiro and Caicedo would make a menacing combination as the deepest 2 midfielders against tough opposition as they're both very all rounded, with 2 playmakers, one as a 10 and one on the wing, in front of them.

Seeing how many points we drop and how much worse off we are without Casemiro, I would put a quality second DM that can also play as an 8 as a higher priority to someone like Macallister. Currently we have Eriksen, Fred, Bruno, McTominay, Mainoo, Mejbri and Iqbal that can play as an 8, Bruno, Eriksen, Amad and maybe Sancho that can play as a 10 but only Casemiro that can reliably play as a 6. I'd go as far as saying we don't really stand a chance winning the league without a quality back up DM, as Casemiro loves a card and is only getting older.
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I agree with every word.

I just dont get the impression that is what EtH want.
 
Brighton are going to demand upwards of 70m for any of McAllister, Caicedo, Ferguson or Mitoma and rightly so. They have fantastic scouts and why should they sell them off for cheap?
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
Brighton are going to demand upwards of 70m for any of McAllister, Caicedo, Ferguson or Mitoma and rightly so. They have fantastic scouts and why should they sell them off for cheap?
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It will be interesting to see if Brighton will go for the lad MA recommended to them. They are good at making these outfield signings.
 
Brighton and Brentford have a smaller scouting network than United but utilise their scouts more effectively due to both clubs having a DoF/head coach model for a number of years. It's not that their scouts are better than ours (post 2016), but rather how effectively they utilise their scouts within the model they operate in. And their strategy/model is based on all the relevant football departments working under a football director who connects the dots, which aligns the whole process and it benefits everyone on the football side of the club. So it's important to allow the people heading the football departments to select a head coach and not appoint a manager. And that's how a club's existing football structure develops and evolves. And currently the technical director at Brighton is ex Everton player, David Weir.

And i've listened to both Ashworth (ex Brighton DoF) and Lee Dykes at Brentford about how they apply data when it comes to recruiting players. Lee Dykes just recently spoke to CNN and said that they cover 85,000 players and there's only 15 (scouts) of them within the recruitment department who can actively scout which isn't going to help cover the regions just by watching potential new recruits. So he said they use data to filter out the vast majority of players who fail a set criteria and hence the data tells them where to focus their eyes on and make better use of the 15 people who are employed to scout actively during games. These clubs have been doing this for a number of years and hence they utilise their scouts more effectively. United are in the process of doing that and it's said that United are looking to create a world leading data science department. But that should've happened during Gill's time but I guess better late than never.

I do think we need a player like Mac Allister to come in and raise the level in midfield. But if his transfer fee is ridiculously high, which has become the norm. Then I would hope we take a chance on Orkun Kokcu from Feyenoord, who is a similar player with high creativity and a big goal threat. He's 22 years of age and has been utilised in both a deeper and more advanced phase of play by Arne Slot.

I'd also sign the young keeper from Shakhtar (Anatoliy Trubin), who for me is the most complete young keeper I've seen currently in the game. And both Kokcu and Trubin wouldn't even cost a lot hence they normally end up at clubs like Benfica or Brighton.
 
luke511 said:
Caicedo would come in as cover for Casemiro and as a defensive 8 option too, so he would basically replace McTominay and Fred at once. I'm also convinced Casemiro and Caicedo would make a menacing combination as the deepest 2 midfielders against tough opposition as they're both very all rounded, with 2 playmakers, one as a 10 and one on the wing, in front of them.

Seeing how many points we drop and how much worse off we are without Casemiro, I would put a quality second DM that can also play as an 8 as a higher priority to someone like Macallister. Currently we have Eriksen, Fred, Bruno, McTominay, Mainoo, Mejbri and Iqbal that can play as an 8, Bruno, Eriksen, Amad and maybe Sancho that can play as a 10 but only Casemiro that can reliably play as a 6. I'd go as far as saying we don't really stand a chance winning the league without a quality back up DM, as Casemiro loves a card and is only getting older.
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So by the sounds of it you feel we could get by with a midfield partnership of Casa and Caicedo without signing a ball playing CM
 
croadyman said:
So by the sounds of it you feel we could get by with a midfield partnership of Casa and Caicedo without signing a ball playing CM
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I think we could, as long as we have guaranteed quality in the no 6 position then we're safe enough having a pick of Eriksen, Fred, Mejbri, Mainoo, Iqbal, Bruno, Van de Beek or McTominay in the 8 position. We do need a top deep lying playmaker but Casemiro and Caicedo are tidy footballers that can play effective long balls, and it would be a good opportunity to give minutes to Mejbri, Mainoo and Iqbal as back up to Eriksen or Fred.
 
Adnan said:
Brighton and Brentford have a smaller scouting network than United but utilise their scouts more effectively due to both clubs having a DoF/head coach model for a number of years. It's not that their scouts are better than ours (post 2016), but rather how effectively they utilise their scouts within the model they operate in. And their strategy/model is based on all the relevant football departments working under a football director who connects the dots, which aligns the whole process and it benefits everyone on the football side of the club. So it's important to allow the people heading the football departments to select a head coach and not appoint a manager. And that's how a club's existing football structure develops and evolves. And currently the technical director at Brighton is ex Everton player, David Weir.

And i've listened to both Ashworth (ex Brighton DoF) and Lee Dykes at Brentford about how they apply data when it comes to recruiting players. Lee Dykes just recently spoke to CNN and said that they cover 85,000 players and there's only 15 (scouts) of them within the recruitment department who can actively scout which isn't going to help cover the regions just by watching potential new recruits. So he said they use data to filter out the vast majority of players who fail a set criteria and hence the data tells them where to focus their eyes on and make better use of the 15 people who are employed to scout actively during games. These clubs have been doing this for a number of years and hence they utilise their scouts more effectively. United are in the process of doing that and it's said that United are looking to create a world leading data science department. But that should've happened during Gill's time but I guess better late than never.

I do think we need a player like Mac Allister to come in and raise the level in midfield. But if his transfer fee is ridiculously high, which has become the norm. Then I would hope we take a chance on Orkun Kokcu from Feyenoord, who is a similar player with high creativity and a big goal threat. He's 22 years of age and has been utilised in both a deeper and more advanced phase of play by Arne Slot.

I'd also sign the young keeper from Shakhtar (Anatoliy Trubin), who for me is the most complete young keeper I've seen currently in the game. And both Kokcu and Trubin wouldn't even cost a lot hence they normally end up at clubs like Benfica or Brighton.
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Another well informed and intelligent post.
 
Nicoseth said:
I disagree. And MacAllister would cost about 3 times as much, I reckon.
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You’re disagreeing for getting a player who is better, younger and a first teamer because of price?

Is this Glazer talk?
 
Nicoseth said:
Just me or is he a little overhyped? No doubt a good player, but for the money that Brighton would want I'm sure there are better options.
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He’s a good player, but he’s stocky and I think a bit on the slow side. Caceido has a much higher ceiling IMO.
 
Mainoldo said:
You’re disagreeing for getting a player who is better, younger and a first teamer because of price?

Is this Glazer talk?
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Glazer talk? What nonsense you rambling about? You know that even if Qatar buy us that we will have financial constraints because of FFP? But sure, let's go pay over the top for a player, especially when we have to spend big on a striker too. The mind boggles.
 
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