ESTEBAN ALZATE

The boy who came from nowhere. Leyton Orient’s death spiral 11, Swindon on loan, and then bang, he’s the best player on the pitch.

Sumptuous technique and touch, vision, elegance, a beautiful footballer right at home in what can be, when it comes together, a beautiful football team.

Are Alzate’s numbers good? I’m sure there’s some dullard out there with the metrics to prove this. Who cares? If you’ve seen him play, you’ve seen enough. He’s good, like really good. A technician’s technician.

And to add some stardust (and a lovely slice of reverse xenophobia, although probably lost on those most in need of noticing) there’s the Columbia aspect (ignoring for a second he was brought up in North London, and signed from one of East London’s most charmless football clubs, which is saying something considering who else occupies that neck of the woods). The little foreign beauty.

But let’s just consider this for a second. Exciting young Columbian midfield playmaker bursts onto the European top-flight scene and forces his way into Columbia’s starting 11, praised as the next big thing in the South American press. The new Carlos Valderrama, or James Rodriguez. Picked alongside Jorman Campuzano (Boca Junior’s Columbia starlet), Wilmar Barrios (Zenit’s key midfield enforcer, linked with 101 clubs, including us at one point, and selected in the official Copa America 2021 team of the tournament, alongside Messi and Naymar no less), and Luis Díaz (still at Porto, but linked with a £60m move to Real Madrid… or Newcastle). We’ll ignore Jefferson Lerma for a moment, although it should be noted that Bournemouth paid £25m for him four years back, so presumably £25m, plus some inflation, is the going rate for young South American international central midfield talent, no? Rodrigo De Paul moved from Udinese to Atletico Madrid for £35m last year, so let’s use that as our guide price.

You might expect to find this player in Valencia’s or Seville’s midfield, or at Sporting or Benfica, a sizable Euro outfit, a name for the hashtag crew to get excited about at transfer window time, linked with a move to one of the Euro behemoth monopoly clubs (or one of the tv money lottery winning or sports washed English outfits also operating at that financial level).

But no. He’s ours. The crisp passing, delicious touch, the technique, the goals (which will surely come in time), it’s all for us, to be treasured and enjoyed and adored… the purist’s purist, a perfectly balanced two-footed playmaker, who may have come from nowhere but is heading for the very top.

What’s more, there’s another one right behind him. The new Alzate: Andrew Moran. If you like neat and tidy highly technical central midfield playmakers (and who doesn’t?), you’re following the right team my friend. The flow of talent is extraordinary.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Alzate does indeed end up at one of those Euro behemoth monopoly clubs one day in the future, as the South American starlet that he is. But in the meantime, let’s make the most of what we have right here, hiding in plain sight, an exciting South American international, who’d cost who knows what in the transfer market, one of the best players on the pitch ready and waiting.

This article was first published in Dogma Issue 2, Jan ‘21.