The Brighton & Hove Albion Puberty Challenge: Part One

The ‘puberty challenge’ has become the latest social media trend to go viral as millions of people rush to upload photos of themselves both before and after making the leap to adulthood.

Inspired by the trend, we’ve gone through every player in Brighton and Hove Albion’s 2018-19 Premier League squad and found a photo of them at their first club along with one of them playing for the Albion this season.

Some of the changes are, erm, interesting – we’re talking Bruno with hair and Maty Ryan looking like he should be a member of Busted.

Here’s part one of our Albion Puberty Challenge.

Maty Ryan

Maty Ryan began his career with Australian A-League side Central Coast Mariners. He made his debut as an 18-year-old in 2010, when he could have passed as the fourth member of Busted. Nine years on and spells playing in Belgium, Spain and England have turned him for a boyband wannabee into one of the best goalkeeper in the Premier League.
 

Bruno

Bruno without a shiny bonce looks worse than pineapple on a pizza. Yet when the Albion’s club captain began his career nearly two decades ago with Espanyol, he had a shot crop of brown hair. It’s all a far cry from the hipster look he has perfected since deciding to grow a beard in 2015.
 

Gaetan Bong

Left back Gaetan Bong looks remarkably similar now to how he did in his first season as a professional with French side Metz. He even has the same trademark dreadlocks, although these days they are spiced up with a little more colour.
 

Shane Duffy

Before he’d discovered Molly Malones or had an ill-advised fling with Katie Price, Shane Duffy was a baby faced defender with Everton. £4m and a spell with Blackburn Rovers later and he is now one of the most underrated centre backs in the top flight.
 

Lewis Dunk

From youth team product playing in League One at Withdean to a fully-fledged England international captaining Brighton in the Premier League, Lewis Dunk has been on quite the journey over the past eight years since his first season as a professional in 2010-11.
 

Dale Stephens

In his younger days, Dale Stephens lived something of a nomadic existence across the lower leagues in his native north west as he racked up spells with Bury, Droylsden, Hyde United, Oldham Athletic and Rochdale. Here he is looking like a man who has his hair cut by his own mother during his first season as a professional with the Shakers.
 

Beram Kayal

Beram Kayal started out with Maccabi Haifa back in Israel, racking up 92 appearances and playing against some of the biggest clubs in Europe in the Europa League. He moved to Celtic in 2010 and was Chris Hughton’s first signing as Albion boss in 2015, but doesn’t seem to have changed much over the course of his career.
 

Yves Bissouma

He’s the youngest member of the Albion’s squad at 22 and that means that Yves Bissouma hasn’t altered from his debut season with LOSC Lille to now. The one thing that does seem to change is his hair – which was one of the reasons that Lille fans used to compare him to Paul Pogba.
 

Jurgen Locadia

Jurgen Locadia made his debut for PSV Eindhoven as an 18-year-old in 2011. He went onto score 45 times in 127 appearances for the Dutch giants and these days tries to look like a figure in the music industry as well as professional footballer. The only problem being of course that his latest album is a pile of crap.
 

Florin Andone

Florin Andone moved from his native Romania to live with his mother in Spain at the age of 12 after his father was killed in a car accident. He began his career with Castellón in the Spanish third tier in 2011 and as you can see, his passionate goal celebrations have hardly changed over the course of the past eight years and spells with Villarreal, Atlético Baleares, Córdoba and Deportivo La Coruña.
 

Anthony Knockaert

It was French third tier side Guingamp who gave Anthony Knockaert his shot at professional football in the 2010-11 season. Knockaert helped the club to promotion to Ligue 2 in his first season as an 18-year-old, despite the fact he actually appears quite chubby back then. He has since lost weight and discovered hair bleach.
 

Pascal Gross

Last season’s WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Year Pascal Gross began his career with Hoffenheim, where he looks about 12 years old. It’s amazing what some stylish hair, a few tattoos and the ability to thread a pass though the eye of a needle can do to a man.

Leon Balogun

If goalkeeper Ryan looks like a member of Busted, than Leon Balogun in his younger days looks like he should be part of Diversity. His appearance is of that of a fleet footed dancer, especially with his boots thrown casually over his shoulder in this photo shoot for his first club Türkiyemspor Berlin whom he played for in the 2007-08 season.