Brighton sign Chelsea full back Tariq Lamptey for £5m
He’s the signing you never knew we needed. Brighton have completed their first – and potentially only – deal of transfer deadline day after completing the capture of Tariq Lamptey from Chelsea for a fee of around £4 million.
The 19-year-old right back has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with the Albion. Given how highly rated he was at Chelsea and the money involved, it seems likely that he’ll go straight into the first team squad rather than the development side.
Lamptey is an England Under 20 international who made his league debut for the Blues as a second half substitute in their 2-1 win over Arsenal in December.
He entered proceedings at the Emirates Stadium in place of former-Albion loanee Fikayo Tomori and gave a dazzling display down the right as Frank Lampard’s side came from behind to beat their London rivals.
That performance at the Emirates Stadium got Chelsea fans very excited. Problematically for them, Lamptey was out of contract this summer and with his route to the first team blocked by César Azpilicueta and another bright, young English prospect in Reece James, he began to consider a move away from the Stamford Bridge for the good of his career.
French side Lille looked the favourites to land him and Lamptey was expected to sign a pre-contract agreement with them, as any player in England can do with any European club once they enter the final six months of their existing deal.
Rather sneakily, the Albion have seemingly hijacked the move which is good news for all parties. Chelsea get £6 million for a player they otherwise looked set to loose on a free, Brighton get Tariq Lamptey who is one of the brightest prospects in the country and Lamptey himself doesn’t have to move Lille.
Last time the WeAreBrighton.com team were in Lille, someone threw up a blue slush puppy in the middle of a shopping centre. Not a place you want to be living.
Lamptey will provide some much-needed competition at right back for Martin Montoya. Montoya is enjoying a solid 7/10 season so far but whenever Graham Potter has wanted to take him out of the firing line, Potter has been forced into using Steve Alzate at full back. And he’s rather good in midfield.
Interestingly, Lamptey has been described as more of a wing back than a traditional full back. That would make him a natural fit in Potter’s 3-5-2 and even in a 4-2-2-2, where the lack of wingers puts extra responsibility on the full backs to get up and down the pitch.
There might be concerns about his height with Lamptey standing only 5’4 tall. That leaves him only a foot and three inches shorter than 6’7 Dan Burn over at left back.
Get the two stood next to each other and it’s going to be like the scene in Lord of the Rings when Merry and Pippin first meet Treebeard.
Lamptey may not be the striker that many of us feel Brighton need if they are to survive his year, but he’s certainly an exciting signing. We’ll watch his progress with great interest — especially for £7m.
Don’t forget you can keep up to date with everything else happening to Brighton on transfer deadline day with our WeAreBrighton.com Live BlogWeAreBrighton.com Live BlogWeAreBrighton.com Live Blog.
