Liverpool legend hits back at former Everton boss as Brighton move for Nigerian

Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso has hit back at criticism from West Ham United manager David Moyes in the aftermath of Bayer Leverkusen’s Europa League win over the Hammers.

The Bundesliga giants continued what has already been a memorable season as late goals from Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface handed Alonso’s men 2-0 home win in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.  There was a further blow for Moyes after key midfielder Lucas Paqueta was ruled out of next week’s second leg after he received a yellow card for a challenge on Florian Wirtz.

Speaking after the game, Moyes reflected on the incident, saying: “He (Paqueta) will be a huge miss but I thought their bench was a disgrace.  He got surrounded. I thought it was disgraceful and was really disappointing.  You should let the referee make the decision and not the way they reacted to the incident.  I thought it was a rule all the way through. We would not all run off and surround him. It was a poor thing for them to do and they are a good side and they didn’t need to react like that.”

However, former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Alonso insisted Paqueta deserved the caution that rules him out of next week’s second leg and refuted Moyes’ claims criticising the conduct of his coaching staff.

He said: “Oh no, I think it was a tackle that deserved a yellow card. It was fully deserved.  I think David’s talking with the fourth official a lot of times, we all do, I do as well.  It’s nothing to talk about disgraceful. I think that we have all the right, he has to see his bench as well.  I have respect for David but I thought it was the right decision from the referee. We did our thing, we didn’t focus on the other bench.”

Seagulls plan swoop for Nigerian star

Brighton and Hove Albion have been told they must pay around £6m to land a player that started his career in the seventh tier of North East non-league football.

Nigerian striker Philip Otele has played for Lithuanian club Kauno Zalgiris and Romanian sides UTA Arad and CFR Cluj in recent seasons - but spent two seasons with Wearside League club Wolviston prior to his initial move into the professional game.  Since penning a deal with defending champions Cluj in June 2023, the powerful forward has scored 13 goals and provided seven assists in 38 appearances in all competitions and that has led to reported interest from the likes of Brentford, Napoli, Club Brugge and Trabzonspor.

However, Cluj chairman Ioan Varga has revealed Brighton are the first club to make a firm move for Otele and gave an insight into how he sees the forward’s future playing out.

Speaking to iAMsport.ro, the Cluj chairman said: “At the moment we don’t have any other offer for Otele apart from Brighton in England.  They are thinking about what I have proposed: £6 million and 20% of a future transfer. Their head of scouting (Mike Cave) said we’ll stay in touch; he’ll speak to the board.  I told Gigi Becali 6 million, but in euros, because he’s here in Romania. I asked Brighton for 6 million, but in pounds. That’s about €7m.”