Carlos Baleba voted WAB September 2024 Brighton Player of the Month

October 10, 2024October 10, 2024 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

Then I saw his face, it’s Carlos Baleba! A breakthrough month in which he established himself as a Brighton regular saw Monsieur Baleba sweep to a huge victory in the WAB September 2024 Player of the Month award.

Baleba gathered 64.32% of the vote, more than double the other five candidates combined. The landslide was reflective of Baleba putting together a consistent run of performances for the first time since his £25 million move from Lille last summer.

The opportunity came about about thanks to a James Milner injury picked up in the final game of August away at Arsenal. Baleba subsequently came into the Albion starting XI for the home game against Ipswich, being head and shoulders above any other Seagull on show.

That was reflected in the WAB Player Ratings from the 0-0 draw. Baleba scored 1.44 more than his closest teammate in the ratings. Or as one Brighton supporter wrote when submitting their scores: “Baleba was brilliant. The rest, meh.”

Four days later and Baleba scored his first Albion goal when Wolves came to the Amex in the League Cup. Relentless pressing saw the Cameroonian midfielder win possession on the edge of the Old Gold box before firing home from 25 yards.

An impressive goal was marked with an even more impressive celebration, Baleba auditioning for a spot in the gymnastics at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with a set of acrobatics straight out of the Kazenga LuaLua playbook.

More aggressive pressing saw Baleba involved in both the goals scored by Brighton away at Chelsea. Levi Colwill‘s attempted clearance smashed into the back of Baleba, looped up into the air and was headed home by Georginio Rutter for the opener.

Baleba then intercepted a weak Robert Sanchez pass meant for Moises Caicedo, despatching clinically past the former Albion goalkeeper.

Sanchez completely missed his attempted punch for the first goal, enabling Rutter to score. With two assists for the Albion, Sanchez made it onto our WAB Brighton September 2024 Player of the Month shortlist.

Some achievement given he left the Amex 14 months earlier to join Chelsea – although sadly not enough to see Sanchez voted into the top three.

Second spot in Player of the Month after Baleba went to Jack Hinshelwood, who showed his versatility through September 2024 and made his debut for England Under 21s.

Hinshelwood played at right back, left back and as a central midfielder. It was from the last of those positions which he scored a towering header to equalise for the Albion against Nottingham Forest.

When used at left back in the Wolves game, Hinshelwood produced one of the greatest goal line clearances in Brighton history.

Adam Webster looked certain to convert for what would have been a comical own goal until Hinshelwood appeared from nowhere to hack away at the last possible moment.

Watching dad Adam Hinshelwood must have been wishing one of his 2008-09 Albion teammates had the ability to do that when he scored his famous own goal from 30 yards against Colchester United on Boxing Day.

Hinshelwood took 12.86 percent of the vote to just about hold off Danny Welbeck, who finished third on 9.94 percent.

Dat Guy scored a stunning direct free kick to put Brighton ahead against Forest. He also set up the third goal at home to Wolves when the rebound from his shot was gobbled up by Ferdi Kadioglu.