Alexis Mac Allister is struggling to finish his sentence. The thought of wearing the No 10 shirt for Argentina is absurd enough to leave the Brighton midfielder in a fit of giggles. The 22-year-old is the latest in a long line of Argentinian playmakers but he is not about to let his ego get the better of him. “I could wear the No 10 in the Under-23s,” he says. “But I don’t want to wear it in the first team. Hopefully Messi will wear that number for a long time.”
It is an answer that sums up Mac Allister’s love of football. This is player who joined Boca Juniors on loan in 2019 because “my heart told me I had to”. There is an innocence to Mac Allister, who felt shy when he met Lionel Messi on international duty, and a romanticism to the way he puffs out his cheeks when he remembers playing at La Bombonera, Boca’s atmospheric ground.
Mac Allister, who has impressed for Brighton in recent weeks, takes a sip from a cup of mate tea. “Maybe it’s a little weird for another country,” he says. “But we drink a lot in Argentina. I drink it every day. I always try to keep my roots, with mate or Argentinian TV. It’s not necessary for it to be summer to have a barbecue. I’ve done it two weeks ago when we almost had snow.”
Mac Allister has brought an Argentinian flavour to Brighton, who signed him from Argentinos Juniors in January 2019. Yet his adaptation to English football was challenging. Unable to secure a work permit, he returned to Argentinos Juniors on loan before a brief spell with Boca and had to wait a year before arriving in England. He made his Premier League debut against Wolves on 7 March, just before the pandemic plunged Britain into lockdown and led to the season’s suspension.
“My mother came with another friend and they couldn’t go back to Argentina,” Mac Allister says “They stayed for maybe two months. It was hard – I wanted to play. I couldn’t play with fans in the stadium; maybe I couldn’t feel English football. English football is with fans. Mentally it was difficult, I couldn’t train, but I am happy to be here. I love the city. My girlfriend loves it as well.”
Mac Allister watched the Premier League when growing up in Buenos Aires, focusing on Carlos Tevez and Sergio Agüero at Manchester City. “I knew the most difficult part to adapt would be physically,” he says. “That was my worry. I tried to improve my English then my physicality. There are not many players who came directly from Argentina to England. The difference was there – I felt it.”
It has not been straightforward for Mac Allister, who was substituted at half-time during Brighton’s defeat at West Brom last Saturday. Although he helped Brighton avoid relegation after Project Restart, this season started slowly. He contracted Covid-19 in November and was not a regular in the side. He scored a last-minute equaliser against Crystal Palace, but Mac Allister considered another loan before earning a chance in the loss to Manchester City in January. “The gaffer [Graham Potter] trusts me,” Mac Allister says. “I feel happy because I am playing more.”
Football is in Mac Allister’s blood. His father, Carlos, was a left-back who lined up alongside Diego Maradona for Argentina; his uncle Patricio played professionally; and his brothers, Francis and Kevin, play for Talleres and Argentinos Juniors respectively.
Mac Allister’s father even asked him and his brothers to help with scouting reports. “He was an agent a few years ago,” he says. “He used to give us paper and we put down how many passes or shots or crosses a player has done. My uncle and my father are always trying to give us experience.”
Mac Allister, who could represent Argentina at the Copa América and the Olympics this summer, had a ball from a young age. When he was five he went with his brothers to Club Social Parque, a famous academy in Buenos Aires. “Many players played there,” he says. “Tevez, Esteban Cambiasso, Juan Román Riquelme. I was a child but I learned a lot.
“We trained twice a week and they gave us the love for football. The difference is not thinking about money. There are fathers who just want their son to play for money. That’s not good. When you grow up maybe it’s normal because it’s a job. You do play for money and it’s fine. But the most important thing is enjoying football.
“That’s the principle. Then every day you train technically. You play in a small pitch, five v five. Then physically you can improve. When you have the technical skills from childhood you can do whatever you want.”
Mac Allister matured after moving temporarily to Boca, playing well enough for the team he supported as a boy to catch the eye of Argentina’s manager, Lionel Scaloni, who called him up in August 2019. Boca loved Mac Allister, whose ancestors came to Argentina from Ireland. He played alongside Tevez, who told him about English football, and scored on his debut against Athletico Paranaense in the Copa Libertadores. But disappointment struck when Boca lost in the semi-finals to River Plate, their biggest rivals. “Boca-River is like the end of the world,” Mac Allister says. “If you lose you are the worst. If you win you are the best.”
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Mac Allister, born in La Pampa, has not experienced a similar atmosphere in England. He did, however, taste derby defeat when Brighton lost to Palace last week. Brighton had all of the ball but their finishing is poor and they lie four points above the bottom three before hosting Leicester on Saturday. “Two counterattacks and they score twice,” he says. “We trust the way we play but we have to improve.”
Trust in Potter is key. “He is very talented,” Mac Allister says. “We are in a bad position but this is the way to achieve big things.”
Mac Allister is ready to scrap. He was kicked as a teenager at Argentinos Junior and responded by helping them win promotion to the top flight. Now, under pressure to help Brighton survive, he thinks of Tevez’s spirit. “He has a big connection with Argentinian people because he plays with the heart,” Mac Allister says. “He came from a poor area and achieved many things. It’s an example for all players.”