Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara has joked that Spurs should have signed Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister over Yves Bissouma. The claim comes after Bissouma's ex-team-mate played a crucial role in helping Argentina achieve World Cup glory in Qatar on Sunday.
Mac Allister was on the score sheet in the group stage win against Poland and provided a perfectly-weighted pass for Angel Di Maria to double Argentina's lead in the final after Lionel Messi had opened the scoring from the penalty spot.
Prior to the tournament commencing, Brighton were receiving a lot of interest regarding a number of their players, most notably Leandro Trossard and Moises Caicedo. But following Mac Allister's starring role, he could be the latest Seagulls player on the transfer wish lists of many top European clubs.
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On the subject of the 23-year-old O'Hara provided a glowing review of his performance in the final before joking that his former employers signed the wrong Brighton midfielder.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Monday morning, he said: "Unbelievable. What a tournament he’s had, I couldn’t believe how fantastic he was.
"He was the driving force in Argentina’s side. He was the guy who had the energy, the spark, really good on the ball, late runs into the box.
"I can’t believe he’s at Brighton, big clubs are going to be coming and looking for him. Spurs signed Bissouma - why did we sign Bissouma when we could’ve got Mac Allister?"
Understandably, Mac Allister is in the headlines for all the right reasons and while Brighton supporters will be glad their player is returning to the South coast a world champion, his displays in Qatar could see transfer interest in him ramp up.
However, Brighton chief Paul Barber has offered a positive update on Mac Allister's future from the perspective of the Seagulls, revealing talks over a new contract had already begun.
"We were working on a new contract for Alexis in the build-up to the World Cup," Barber told talkSPORT. "We met Alexis’ father [Carlos] several times, he himself played for Argentina with [Diego] Maradona no less, so there’s a fantastic family history to playing for their country.
"We felt that Alexis has been performing really well all season, he performed well last season. As we’ve always said, when players do well, when their profile increases, there’s always going to be interest in them.
"And this will be no different, Alexis is no different, there was interest in him before the World Cup and I’m sure there will be more interest in him afterwards.
"All we can do in situations where you’ve got a great asset is to try and protect yourself as best as possible. We’ve done that with several of our players and staff over the last several years, and that’s all you can do in these situations."
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