Yves Bissouma signs for Brighton for £15m

Brighton and Hove Albion have completed a deal in the region of £15m for Lille midfielder Yves Bissouma.

The 21-year-old has signed a five-year-contract with the Albion and becomes Chris Hughton’s sixth signing of the summer.

Although officially “undisclosed”, the fee is understood to be just short of the club record £16m for Jurgen Locadia in January, making Bissouma the second-most expensive signing in Albion history.

Bissouma joined Lille from AS Real Bamako in his native Mali in 2016, starting 22 times and making a further 27 appearances from the bench in his two seasons at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, scoring four times for the Ligue 1 outfit.

A Mali international with 15 caps to his name, he netted the last minute winner for the Eagles in their 1-0 win over Ivory Coast in the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations in 2016. Mali went onto lose in the final to Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Fulham and Porto were both reportedly interested in Bissouma before the Cottagers pulled off the coup of signing highly rated Jean Michael Seri from Nice and the Portuguese outfit were priced out of a move – a month ago, Lille were quoted as wanting close to £20 for Bissouma. Should the £15m fee prove to be correct, that is quite some negotiations from Paul Barber.

Midfield has long looked an area of concern for the Albion. We were extremely lucky last season to get through to March without losing Dale Stephens or Davy Propper to injury or suspension and when they were ruled out, our season began to unravel with disappointing defeats against Everton, Leicester City and Crystal Palace.

The departure of Steve Sidwell and Rohan Ince has left the cupboard even more bare, with only Beram Kayal providing realistic back up. To attempt another 38 game Premier League season with only three senior midfielders would’ve been bordering on suicidal.

Whether Bissouma will start remains to be seen. The fact that half of his appearances in a struggling Lille side in a weak Ligue 1 came from the bench indicates he won’t be dislodging Stephens or Propper anytime soon, but the fee would suggest otherwise.

At 21, he clearly has time on his side while his versatility will also have appealed to Hughton, having played right midfield, right back and even as a number 10 at various points in his short career to date.

Bissouma has been handed the number 15 squad number and already looks to be paying tribute to one of the greatest 15’s in Albion history by having the sort of ridiculous haircut that Nathan Jones would be proud of.