Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has spoken about the future of midfielder Alexis Mac Allister.

The Argentine was superb at the World Cup, starting nearly every game as his side won the trophy in Qatar.

However, the 23-year-old is now being linked with a move away from Brighton, with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham mentioned.

Barber stated, via The Argus: "In an ideal world our squad, which is as good as it has been for a long time, will remain intact through the whole of January and we will go into the second half of the season as we are. The next 30-odd days is unpredictable and we will deal with whatever comes in. But we are not offering anyone to anyone."

He then added on Mac Allister: "No – and we don't want any [contact]. We are quite happy as we are, certainly for as long as we can be. But we are also realistic. Alexis Mac Allister has just won a World Cup at 23 years of age and has had a fantastic season with us.

"We know there is going to be interest in Alexis. We know Moises Caicedo is one of the top talents. We know Rob Sanchez is one of the world's best young goalkeepers. This is normal, this is the world we wanted to operate in and this is the world we are operating in. We can't be surprised when there is interest and at some point we have to accept that these players will go on to play at an even higher level than ours."