Abdul Razak: From world class to woeful in seven days

They say a week is a long time in politics. For the strange Brighton career of Abdul Razak, seven days is all it took for ‘The Next Yaya Toure’ to go from delivering a world class performance on his Albion debut to looking like a bloke who’d never played football in his life.

It’s hard to think of a Brighton player who’s veered from sublime to shite quite so quickly. And here we are, nearly a decade on and nobody seems to have a convincing reason as to how or why it happened.

Razak said in an interview with ITV in 2017 which discussed his nomadic career that he fell out with Gus Poyet during his time at the Amex Stadium.

And while Razak and Poyet probably didn’t see eye-to-eye by time the midfielder’s loan from Manchester City was cut acrimoniously short, it’s hard to believe that an argument between player and manager could lead to such a dramatic drop in performance levels inside of a week.

Even with an egocentric individual like Poyet involved, to have a complete breakdown in relationship so quickly seems unlikely. It normally took Poyet months and years to fall out with people, not days. So, what the hell happened?

The Brighton story of Abdul Razak began on February 17th 2012. Poyet wanted to boost his midfield options and so brought in Razak and fellow young prospect Gai Assulin on loan from the Etihad Stadium.

Both signings were greeted with plenty of enthusiasm at the time. Not only had Razak been hailed as the heir to Toure at City, but Assulin was known as ‘The Israeli Messi’ – proof, if ever it were needed, that you should never get excited about a new player based purely on their nickname.

Razak was signed on a deal until the end of the season, Assulin only for a month. Ironically, it was Razak who went back to City early and Assulin who ended up staying through until May, although he too made little impression in two starts and five substitute appearances.

Poyet did little to dampen the flames of expectation surrounding the capture of Razak. In fact, he could have been describing Toure when he explained what he expected his new capture would bring to the party.

The Albion manager said of Razak, “He has the type of characteristics of a midfielder I want to bring – the strength, the power to go box to box, the technical ability. He brings plenty of things we didn’t have within the squad before he arrived.”

Razak’s Brighton debut came in a 0-0 draw away at Hull City on a Wednesday 22nd February 2012. Only 277 die hard Albion fans had made the midweek trek to KC Stadium, so most of us saw Razak for the first time when he made his home debut three days later against Ipswich Town.

Christ, what a debut it was. Brighton destroyed the Tractor Boys 3-0 thanks to goals from Craig Mackail-Smith and an Ashley Barnes brace.

But none of the talk afterwards swirled around the goalscorers, the fact the Albion were now up to seventh, that we’d ended Ipswich’s four-game winning run or the infamous “Some things money can’t buy, football isn’t one: The Amex” banner that the visiting support had held up before the game.

No, it was all about Razak. He was mesmerising playing slightly more advanced of Alan Navarro and Liam Bridcutt in the midfield three. One minute, Razak would be winning possession back on the edge of the Albion box. The next, he’d be outside the Ipswich area trying to thread in Barnes or Mackail-Smith.

It’s hard to recall a more complete Brighton debut than Razak’s, let alone from a 19-year-old. He wasn’t ‘The Next Yaya Toure’ – he was better than Toure right now. February 2012 was peak Vicente time, but even the Dagger was forgotten in the midst of Razak mania.

Poyet was already talking about trying to keep Razak permanently in the aftermath of the Ipswich game. “Razak has steel and is totally different to what we’ve got.”

“He picks out everyone on the pitch with his passing, even from 40 yards and that is quality. No one knocked him off the ball, either.

“He’s solid, massive and it’s nice when you have a player who is doing something unique. We will try and keep him and hopefully use him all the time.”

A week later and the Albion were off to Doncaster Rovers. Not normally a reason to get excited, but the chance to see Razak had everyone on the train up from Kings Cross looking forward to their day in South Yorkshire.

Not even one of the WeAreBrighton.com team getting attacked in a pub before the game by an elderly woman with a walking stick could dampen the mood.

If Razak could tear apart a half-decent Ipswich side, imagine what he could do against a struggling Doncaster Rovers? The answer it turned out was absolutely nothing.

Poyet could have selected one of those Primark mannequins with no arms at the Keepmoat Stadium and it would have offered more than Razak.

He was hauled on the hour mark in a pretty dull 1-1 draw, El Hadji Diouf scoring a late equaliser from the penalty spot for Donny to cancel out Mackail-Smith’s equaliser.

We all assumed it was an off day. The Keepmoat Stadium was shared with Doncaster’s Rugby League Club side and the Doncaster Belles Ladies club, so the pitch was in constant use and made the surface of the moon look like a snooker table. A player as cultured as Razak couldn’t be expected to perform on such a vegetable patch.

Four days later and the Albion were back at the Amex against Cardiff City. And yet Razak was a complete passenger again. There were no “he’s too good for a pitch like that” excuses this time as he was substituted with 60 minutes played for the second game running.

Razak was dropped completely for the next two games, a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth in which Vicente scored both from the bench and a 3-1 defeat away at Blackpool.

Abdul Razak would manage just 19 more minutes as a Brighton player. They came from substitute appearances in victory over Derby County and a draw at Nottingham Forest, after which Poyet cut short his loan with seven games of the season still to play.

Razak has had a nomadic career ever since. He made nine appearances for City in total and joined Charlton for a three month spell in the 2012-13 season. That loan was cut short even quicker than his time at Brighton, Razak lasting just one month and two games at the Valley.

Similarly disappointing spells have come in England at West Ham United for whom he failed to make an appearance and at Doncaster where he played nine times in 2015, presumably coping slightly better with the Keepmoat Stadium pitch than he’d managed on his visit in Albion colours.

Razak has tried his luck in Russia with Anzhi Makhachkala and Greece with OFI Crete. Since 2016, he’s played for a succession of Swedish sides including AFC United, IFK Göteborg, AFC Eskilstuna and IK Sirius.

Despite rattling through 12 clubs, he has never made more than 25 appearances for one of them. If his form has deteriorated as quickly at each of his subsequent employers as it did at Brighton, then that won’t come as a surprise to anyone.

It still doesn’t explain it though. From world class to woeful in seven days. We doubt we’ll ever understand the Brighton career of Abdul Razak.