Steven Alzate was ‘keen’ on a move to West Brom before being forced to stay at Premier League high-flyers Brighton and Hove Albion, manager Graham Potter tells The Argus after the midfielder’s deadline day move collapsed.
Steve Bruce was certainly not in the mood to pull any punches.
West Bromwich Albion, in the final throes of deadline day, thought they had got both Alzate and Fulham’s Josh Onomah through the door. In fact, they pretty much did with the latter. Onomah was at the Baggies’ training ground to undergo a medical before deals for both players collapsed (almost literally) at the eleventh hour.
“There will be an investigation into it,” Bruce fumes. “It’s really, really disappointing and frustrating. The two players would’ve been terrific acquisitions. The frustration of everybody is absolutely huge; mad, disappointed.
“Josh Onomah was in the training ground and we still couldn’t get it done. For the two players in particular it’s a big disappointment for them.
“We’re devastated, disappointed, angry and frustrated about what happened yesterday.”
West Brom miss out on both Steven Alzate and Josh Onomah
Potter certainly doesn’t seem to share Bruce’s exasperation, however. In fact, the Brighton boss seems rather pleased about the prospect of having another talented, technically-gifted midfielder at his disposal as a high-flying Seagulls side with four wins from six games look to retain their place in the European spots.
“It’s part of football,” Potter adds when discussing Alzate’s Amex Stadium future. “Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen on a deadline day. There was an option for him but we weren’t kicking him out the door either. It could have gone either way.
“He’s a player we know, a player we like. So he will be on the squad and he will be part of our group. Then, he will be competing for a place.”
Colombia international Alzate, who scored a famous winner at Anfield in early-2021, has not played a minute in Brighton’s Premier League season so far. He was on the bench for the 5-2 thumping of Leicester City on Sunday.
And Potter admits that Alzate was intrigued about the prospect of regular game-time at West Brom.
“I think he was quite keen to do either, to be honest. The opportunity to play regular football was something to be considered as well,” he adds.
“That’s why he made the consideration and the decision. But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. That’s life.”
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