On January 1, 2022, at the beginning of 2022, Alexis Mac Allister was not even a regular for Brighton.
In the first half of the 2021-22 Premier League season, McAllister played just a full 90 minutes in one game.
But that changed on 2 January, when McAllister scored two goals against Everton to give Brighton a 3-2 victory over Everton.
'That game was a turning point, I didn't play many games before that, but against Brentford on 26 December, we had a couple of players who withdrew because of Covid and I got my chance and everyone supported me on the pitch and that helped me a lot.
'Then we played against Everton and I scored two goals, it was a good day and that day changed everything.'
Since then, McAllister hasn't stopped improving.
(i)
Alexis McAllister was born on December 24, 1998, in Santa Rosa, the capital of La Pampa Province, Argentina.
Born on Christmas Eve, Alexis became the most special child in the family, because on his birthday, the family always celebrates Christmas a day earlier, and the continuous celebration will continue until December 26th.
Alexis McAllister is the youngest child in the family and has two older brothers, Kevin and Francis.
In this all-boy family, football is their fondest childhood memory, and their favourite thing is watching Premier League games on TV together on weekends, and they both adore Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez.
In fact, the McAllister brothers spent most of their childhood honing their soccer skills because their father was Carlos McAllister.
The elder McAllister was a professional footballer, played for Argentina's famous Boca youth team, and was also selected for the Argentina national team three times, although he is not too famous in world football, but his influence in Argentina is still very large.
McAllister Sr. became involved in business and sports politics after retiring from football, serving as Minister of Sports under President Mauricio Macri's government from 2015 to 2018.
It can be said that football has been integrated into the blood of every man in the McAllister family.
From an early age, Alexis McAllister and his two older brothers, Kevin and Francis, trained in football at the "JJ Batista" football academy run by former professional player Fernando Batista.
However, the elder McAllister is not in a hurry to lead his child to professional football.
After retiring from the military, the elder McAllister began to enter business and politics, and his wife Silvina Rilla is also a strong business woman and founded the Rielamac clothing brand, and the couple's various experiences made them clearly understand the importance of learning.
McAllister Sr. and Rilla advised their children not to focus solely on football and never give up on school for football, but to study hard and at least finish high school.
Thankfully, Kevin, Francis, and Alexis all did as their parents suggested.
(ii)
Alexis McAllister went with his two older brothers at the age of 5 to Club Social Parque, a futsal school in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, where outstanding players are sent to Argentine youth football clubs.
At Club Social Parque, Alexis McAllister won his first football tournament trophy.
Until the brothers entered fifth grade, the elder McAllister would be involved in all aspects of their learning, and he often assigned the three brothers homework that had nothing to do with the knowledge in the textbook.
For example, making scouting reports.
"After retiring, I started working as a businessman and a football scout, I had to keep track of some players, and my sons were 9 and 8 years old, and I started asking them to help me prepare the statistics for the scouting report."
Alexis McAllister's current super high tactical thinking also has a lot to do with this experience, and when recalling this experience, he said so.
"At that time I did the scouting of players for Osasuna, we went to the games together, in each game I would follow two or three players and then record them separately, we sent reports to Spain on young players from Argentina."
"My father gave us a notebook in which we counted the number of passes, crosses, shots that players made."
The McAllister brothers were very happy in football as teenagers, because their father could provide them with enough financial support, never pressured them, and did not sacrifice their studies because of money problems, so as to move faster on the road to professional football.
Alexis McAllister regrets seeing many parents giving up their studies in order to make money faster for their children.
"Learning is a very important thing. We practice technique every day, often playing five-on-five on small pitches, physics can get more variation in our later matches, you already have football technique from a young age, and learning allows you to add anything you want to add to it. ”
Alexis McAllister's career has also proved this, he has constantly added new elements to the game and is now a world champion and all-around midfielder.
(iii)
Of course, the elder McAllister will still use his influence to ensure that his children can enter professional football.
In 2016, at the age of 18, Alexis McAllister joined Argentine Junior Football Club in the Argentine Second Division, where he walked out of Maradona, Tevez, Cambiasso and Riquelme.
Before that, his two older brothers, Kevin and Francis, had already arrived before him.
On 30 October 2016, Alexis McAllister made his professional football debut as a substitute in the second half of the match between Argentina Juniors and Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero.
On March 10, 2017, in a match against Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba, Alexis McAllister scored a goal for the Argentine youth, the first official match goal of his career.
In the 2016–17 season, 18-year-old Alexis McAllister became an integral part of the team, scoring three goals in 23 appearances for the Argentine Youth League and helping the team to be promoted to the second division as champions.
As children, the McAllister brothers would sing two songs before going to bed, one about the three piglets and the other about the three brothers' football dreams, with the central idea that the three brothers would play together for Real Madrid in the future.
On November 25, 2017, the second song of the Three Brothers partially became a reality.
In the match between the Argentine Juniors and San Lorenzo in the A-League League, the three brothers appeared on the pitch at the same time, with Alexis and Francis starting and Kevin coming off the bench.
Although the Argentine youngsters lost 1-0, the elder McAllister and his wife were still the happiest people on the entire pitch.
"In fact, everything that happened to my sons is incredible, some people are lucky that they have a son who can play football, and I have three!"
Alexis McAllister is the youngest of the three brothers, but he is the most gifted and the most technical.
Second brother Kevin once told a very interesting thing.
During one of the youth's training sessions, the coach said to the players: "Look at Francis, his pass will definitely be worth millions. ”
Then, the coach asked where Francis was, Francis put his hand up and the coach said, "No, not you." Then he pointed at Alexis and said, "I'm talking about him." ”
In fact, the football talent of the eldest brother Francis and the second brother Kevin is not bad, but Francis's technique is very average, there are no obvious weaknesses, but there are no outstanding advantages; Kevin, on the other hand, was unable to advance further in professional football because of two severe ligament tears.
Francis McAllistro currently plays for Saario Central FC and Kevin McAllister still plays for Argentine Juniors.
(iv)
Who is the greatest player Maradona or Messi?
This question is a very sacred one in the McAllistrow family.
In a December 2022 interview, Alexis McAllister said, "We always discuss this topic. ”
"For my father, Maradona was very important, not only because of his career, but also because of his personal life. I'm proud to be in Leo's team and happy to play with him. To me, he was the best ever. ”
"But my father always chose Maradona, I answered Messi best, and I don't think we will stop arguing."
McAllister Sr., a three-time callee for the Argentine national team, was fortunate to play alongside Maradona and played for Boca Juniors with Maradona in 1995-1996.
Not only that, but the elder McAllister also made friends with Maradona.
"Maradona flirts with death every day, Maradona is bad, but the bad is only for himself, he has never had bad behavior towards others, he has not been arrogant or bad at anyone."
"On the field, Diego is a monster and I'm just a normal player, he takes good care of me. He used to give Rolex watches to me, Killy Gonzalez and Veron. ”
"Unfortunately my watch was snatched, they broke the window of the car and I didn't want to give it to them. The man with the gun said, 'Either Rolex or your life.' The watch is worth $5,000, but it's really important to me because it's what Maradona gave me. ”
Alexis McAllister is Messi's diehard loyalist, not only because of Messi's achievements on the pitch, Messi has also taken care of him like Maradona took care of the old McAllister.
The surname McAllister is not a South American one, McAllister said when he represented the Argentine Olympic team at the Olympics in 2021 that his surname is from Ireland.
According to McAllister, his ancestors came from Fife in Scotland and were Irish immigrants to Argentina in the 1930s.
"I don't know if I have Scottish ancestry in me, but my ancestors came from Ireland."
To this day, Argentina still has nearly 1 million people of Irish descent.
The Irish ancestry in the blood gave Alexis McAllister a red hair.
In 2019, Alexis McAllister was selected for the national team once, because he was a newcomer, so his teammates began to joke with his red hair, and everyone called him "red".
"They called me Red and I didn't really like the title, and then Leo walked in and he was the authority for everyone, Leo said I didn't like the name and then everything stopped all of a sudden and I'm glad he helped me."
"Playing with Messi is my dream and the first time was fantastic. To be honest, I rarely talk to him off the field because I'm a very shy guy and I don't want to disturb him, he's very lovely, quiet and he has a great relationship with everyone. ”
When Argentina won the 2022 World Cup, the issue of Messi and Maradona seemed to be resolved in the McAllister family, and the elder McAllister made some concessions.
"Compare Messi with the guy who plays now, not with Maradona or Di Stéfano. Yes, Messi is the best in history, the best player of the 2022 World Cup, is he 35 years old? His birth certificate must have been fake. ”
"I am rational and I know there is no reason to oppose Messi, but it is important to know history, Maradona faces a series of personal problems and despite this, he has triumphed. First the World Cup, and then, alone, he dragged Napoli towards the title. ”
(v)
Alexis McAllister did not start in the second half of the 2021-22 Premier League season, and by 2022-23, the Argentine has become an absolute workhorse in Brighton's midfield.
In the 16 Premier League rounds leading up to the World Cup, McAllister made 14 appearances for Brighton, scoring five goals.
In Qatar, McAllister became Messi's most reliable bodyguard, allowing Messi to work magic with and without the ball.
McAllister has done his job of escorting Messi at a high level, knowing that McAllister is not a defensive midfielder at Brighton, he has excellent dribbling and can pass the ball well.
But to help Messi, McAllister sacrificed his style for the benefit of the entire Argentine team.
McAllister fits perfectly into Messi's Argentina squad and is willing to serve Messi, helping the team pressure and defend and creating passing options in time.
Everything was worth it, he lifted the World Cup and he was one of the best shadow heroes of the World Cup.
McAllister's progress in 2022 has surprised many, but that doesn't include Brighton's boss, Tony Bloom, who is the owner of Starlizard, the most advanced data analytics platform.
At the end of October 2022, Brighton extended McAllister's contract (the team can choose to extend it for another year), believing that McAllister can shine in the World Cup.
"When I started my career, there were no clubs in Europe's top league waiting in line for me, and when Brighton found me, I was playing for the Argentine Juniors."
"In the first conversation with me and the agent, they told me that I was one of the best players in terms of the stats of the under-21 players, at Brighton they did a lot of work on data and statistics and I was lucky to be here."
McAllister lived up to Brighton's trust, he did, and Brighton now has a world champion.
When McAllister moved to Brighton in January 2019 for €8 million, the FA didn't even consider McAllister to be a "special talent", so he couldn't get a work permit.
As a result, Brighton had to loan McAllister back to Argentina twice in a row, once with his parent team, Argentine Juniors and once as Boca Juniors.
It wasn't until McAllister was selected for Argentina's Olympic team that he received a FA work permit.
Brighton Club CEO Paul Barber said excitedly in an interview with the BBC.
"25 years ago, the idea of having a world champion in our team was just a beautiful dream, now it's a reality, it's fantastic and it's great news for the fans and club staff who have contributed."
After the World Cup, as a reward for McAllister, Brighton gave him a two-week vacation, but McAllister took the initiative to end the holiday early, hoping to return to the stadium as soon as possible and contribute to the team.
McAllister came off the bench in Brighton's 4-1 win over Everton on 4 January 2023.
Now, McAllister is behind Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Juventus and many other big names, but he is in no hurry to leave Brighton, he is grateful that Brighton believe in him and give him the opportunity to prove himself, and so far he feels good here.
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