5 players who handed in Brighton transfer requests
Marc Cucurella telling the Albion he wants to leave has caused quite a stir – but newsflash – this is nothing unusual to long-standing Seagulls supporters as he only joins a long line of Brighton players to hand in transfer requests.
Tony Bloom and Dick Knight before him having long been fending off individuals desperate to move to other clubs. Some of them then went onto become bona fide icons at the Albion, as Cucurella could yet do if Sheikh Mansour (estimated wealth at least £17 billion) and Bloom cannot come to an agreement over how much Manchester City can afford to pay.
Here are five players who handed in Brighton transfer requests – and how things turned out for them.
Lewis Dunk
Lewis Dunk desperately trying to secure a £5 million move to Fulham in 2015 is a chapter rarely spoken about by Seagulls fans.
Probably because it does not lend particularly well to the narrative of him being Mr Brighton & Hove Albion, in the same way Crystal Palace fans pretend Wilfried Zaha never played for Manchester United, Cardiff City or hands in transfer requests every summer.
Dunk had enjoyed a breakthrough 2014-15 season. He may have been on the scene since 2010, but it was only really in that ghastly campaign under Sami Hyypia’s hapless management followed by Chris Hughton that he nailed down a place as a first team regular.
Brighton finished 20th in the Championship with Dunk as one of the only bright spots. Fulham were not much better, ending the season just five points and three places better off in 17th.
That is what pissed so many Albion fans off about Dunk’s desire to depart. The Cottagers were not exactly a massive step up – even if their decade-long spell in the Premier League had only recently come to an end – and yet he wanted to abandon ship at the first sign of interest from another club.
Dunk’s attempts to force through a move did not just extend to a transfer request. He even refused to play in a League Cup first round tie away at Southend United, earning a two week fine for his troubles.
Still Brighton refused to sell and Dunk ended up being dropped by Hughton. After going on strike, Dunk started just one of the Albion’s next eight league matches.
The Seagulls did not miss him as they soared to the top of the table, beginning a club record of 21 undefeated games to start a season.
It was only an October injury to Uwe Hunemeier that opened the door for Dunk to return. When Gordon Greer was then ruled out a month later, Dunk found himself an automatic starter.
The rest, as they say, is history. Dunk has been undroppable ever since, now captains the club in the Premier League and is closing in on 400 Brighton appearances.
Imagine how different Dunk’s career and reputation amongst the Amex faithful would be had Bloom not had the resolve to keep him in 2015?
Dale Stephens
Transfer requests amongst the eventual Brighton promotion winning side of 2017 were not just restricted to Dunk. One year after Dunk’s failed efforts to join Fulham came the turn of Dale Stephens to hand in a transfer request.
Stephens was at least trying to join a club in the division above. Burnley had ended the 2015-16 season four points ahead of the Albion.
That saw them lift the Championship title and win promotion to the Premier League. Brighton meanwhile lost out to Middlesbrough by a margin of two goals, before falling in the playoffs to Sheffield Wednesday.
Stephens had been outstanding alongside Beram Kayal as the Albion just fell short of a place in the promised land. It was little surprise that Sean Dyche wanted to take him to Turf Moor, where the Clarets had a Joey Barton-sized hole to fill in their midfield.
Bloom rejecting Stephens’ transfer request was particularly bold as the midfielder only had a year left to go on his Albion contract.
Rather than taking one last opportunity to cash in on one of their most important players before he could walk on a free, Brighton were gambling on winning promotion, being able to offer Stephens the top flight football he craved and enticing him to signing a new deal.
There is a reason Bloom has made a fortune from playing poker and sports betting. Keeping Stephens was a calculated risk that paid off handsomely.
He was excellent again in 2016-17, helping the Albion to the Premier League. He then signed a new long-term deal despite renewed interest from Dyche and celebrated by singing “Burnley’s a shit hole” on stage to over 50,000 people at the Hove Lawns promotion party.
The Clarets did eventually manage to sign Stephens from Brighton, but no transfer requests were required for the deal to happen.
He made the move to Turf Moor when deemed surplus to requirements by Potter following the transformation of Yves Bissouma into a superb holding midfielder at the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
Elliott Bennett
Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named’s Brighton team were steamrollering their way to the 2010-11 League One title with Elliott Bennett as one of their star performers.
It came as no surprise when Championship promotion contenders Norwich City came sniffing for Bennett in the January 2011 transfer window. A £1.5 million offer was tabled and Bennett made it clear he wanted to move by handing in a transfer request.
Rather than saying no outright, Bloom struck a rumoured gentleman’s agreement with Bennett: Stay until the end of the season, help Brighton finish the job of winning promotion and then you can move to Norwich if you still want to.
Fast forward five months and Bennett ended the campaign with an frankly ridiculous return of eight goals and 20 assists in all competitions.
He was named in the PFA League One Team of the Year, had a League One winners medal around his neck and departed for Norwich – by now a Premier League side – with the well wishes of everyone at the Albion.
Glenn Murray
Brighton & Hove Albion’s second highest ever scorer he might be, but Glenn Murray was not universally popular during the early days of his first spell with the club when injuries and homesickness saw him join the list of players who have submitted transfer requests.
Despite a troublesome hernia and his family not enjoying the sunny sights of Brighton, Murray had still managed to plunder 19 goals in 38 league appearances between his £300,000 signing from Rochdale in January 2008 and the summer of 2009.
It was after Russell Slade had masterminded the Great Escape from League One relegation at the end of the 2008-09 that Murray formally asked to leave.
Knight had just stepped aside, meaning Murray’s future was one of the first player-related decisions Bloom faced after becoming chairman.
Slade made his feelings quite clear: “There is no doubting Glenn’s quality. In my opinion he is one of the best strikers outside the Championship and I don’t want to lose him.”
“I want him to be part of my squad for next season and am not under any pressure to sell players. The club made a big investment in the player when he signed last year, and although I understand his reasons for submitting a transfer request, he still has two years left to run on his contract.”
Albion fans were not as desperate for Murray to stay as Slade. He was infamously booed from the pitch following an early season 0-0 draw at Brentford after not clapping the travelling support and struggled for form and fitness as Brighton again found themselves at the wrong end of League One.
Then Poyet You Know Who arrived and everything changed. Murray became that best striker outside the Championship that Slade predicted, firing Brighton to the League One title.
He then became the best striker in the Championship after being controversially allowed to join Crystal Palace on a free by Poyet The Dark Lord.
Murray’s feats with the arch enemy made him public enemy number one amongst Brighton supporters, until he returned to the Seagulls in 2016 and scored 22 goals in Hughton’s promotion winning side.
His total of 111 Brighton goals stands only behind Tommy Cook in the all-time list and is unlikely to ever be beaten. Not bad for a bloke who had Carlisle United on red alert over a possible transfer because he was unhappy in Sussex.
Danny Cullip
Transfer requests from Brighton players in the early Withdean years were handed in for very different reasons compared to those Amex-era players seeking fame and fortune in the Premier League (or at Fulham).
Take Danny Cullip for example. The year was 2001, the month was October and problems with the pitches the Albion hired at the University of Sussex meant that Brighton found themselves training in Preston Park ahead of a top-of-the-table Division Two clash against Brentford.
Trying to avoid stepping in dogshit playing football in a public park was obviously not ideal preparation for defending top spot. And it was enough for Cullip to tell Dick Knight he wanted to leave the Albion.
There were other reasons other than Fido and Spot crapping everywhere. Cullip was attracting interest from Brighton’s big-spending Division Two rivals Cardiff City, who under the ownership of Sam Hammam had a budget which eclipsed every other side in the third tier.
Cardiff enquired about the availability of Cullip, which was met with short shrift by Knight. “Danny has told me he wants to go in no uncertain terms. We’re top of Division Two and a club going places so I’m very unhappy that any player would want to leave at this time.”
Micky Adams leaving as Brighton manager to become assistant to Dave Bassett at Leicester City probably did not help. It also meant that rumours of Adams raiding his former club for the likes of Cullip and Bobby Zamora began swirling.
Bloom is not the only Albion chairman to not be bullied into a sale he does not want or need to make. Knight kept Cullip and by the end of the 2001-02 campaign, Brighton were champions having secured back-to-back titles and promotions from fourth tier to second.
Knight also listened to Cullip’s complaints about the training ground. Money was spent on improving the pitches, physio facilities and installing a new gym.
10 months after handing in his transfer request and Cullip signed a new contract. In total, it was three years between him asking to leave Brighton and eventually being sold, when the Albion were at their most cash-strapped and could not say no to the £250,000 being offered by Sheffield United in December 2004.
Whether Cucurella stays or goes, Brighton fans can at least console themselves that transfer requests are no longer handed in based on players having to clean dogshit off their boots.
