Back in January, Brighton & Hove Albion signed Alexis Mac Allister on a €5m deal from Argentinos Juniors, in a deal which let the player stay at his home country club until this summer.
But the midfielder has failed to get a work permit or an European Union passport. That means the Seagulls had to loan him out again, this time to Boca Juniors.
The La Bombonera side are a much bigger club, so Mac Allister will start competing on a new level. And he proved he’s ready for the challenge during his debut last night.
Playing against Athletico Paranaense in Brazil for the Copa Libertadores’ round-of-16, the midfielder scored the winner in the 1-0 victory, giving his club a big advantage for the second leg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUQZGpa68s
His father Carlos Mac Allister, who’s a well known ex-player in Argentina, spoke to the local press afterwards, talking about his son’s success on Instagram lately.
“At Argentinos he had 8000 followers; yesterday, before the game, he had 90,000; now he has more than 120,000 and was on the cover of important newspapers… it’s a before and after,” Carlos Mac Allister told Jogo Bonito (via TyC).
Interestingly, Carlos was also asked about Alexis’ loan deal from Brighton. He claimed that if the 20-year-old doesn’t want to join the English side, he will not.
“Today the players decide. If he’s happy at Boca, he will stay at the club.”
We’re pretty sure things don’t work that way, though.
