Valencia right back Martin Montoya signs for the Albion
There was late deadline day drama at the Amex as Brighton and Hove Albion completed a last minute deal to sign Martin Montoya from Valencia.
Montoya had looked set to join Fulham after the Cottagers had agreed a fee with Valencia for the right back. He had a last minute change of heart however and has signed a four year deal with the Albion. The reason behind the late decision has not been revealed, although we hope it involves traffic on the M25 like the infamous Alex Pritchard deal of 2016.
Montoya arrives with quite the pedigree. A product of Barcelona’s fabled youth system, he played 45 times for Barca between his debut in 2011 and his departure in the summer of 2016.
During that time, Montoya had to be content largely with playing back up to Dani Alves. It was the arrival of another right back, Douglas, to Camp Nou that saw Montoya agitating for a move in December 2014. He stayed until the end of the season, playing 80 minutes as Luis Enrique’s side beat Paris Saint Germain 3-1 in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League that season on their way to winning the treble.
Montoya got his wish to leave at the end of that historic 2014-15 campaign, moving on a season long loan to Inter Milan for 2015-16. He only made three appearances at the San Siro, with Inter cutting short the deal after six months.
He then spent the second half of the with Real Betis, playing 13 games before joining Valencia on a free in the summer of 2016. 52 appearances followed over the next two seasons at the Mestalla with two goals.
Montoya becomes the third player to arrive at the Albion from Valencia in the last seven years. Every single one of them has proven to be a great addition.
Vicente joined in 2011 and although his body was made of china, he still remains the most talented player many of us have ever seen in the stripes. Bruno has become only the second man to captain Brighton to promotion to the Premier League and Bernado’s arrival from Red Bull Leipzig tightens up the left hand side and although Bruno and Ezequiel Schelotto both had their moments last season, Schelotto’s defending at times left a lot to be desired and Bruno may be pummelling Father Time at the minute, but eventually age has got to catch up with him as he approaches his 40s.
Upgraded full backs should reduce the number of crosses into the box that the Albion have to deal with. Unless you’ve been living on one of the moons of Jupiter, you’ll know that deliveries from out wide caused real problems last seaso,n with over a third of the goals the Albion conceded coming from crosses.
Montoya also becomes the first Martin to play for Brighton since Martin Ling. If that isn’t reason enough to presume he is going to be success, then we don’t know what is.
