Aaron Mooy moves to Shanghai SIPG
Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Aaron Mooy has completed a surprise move to Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG for an undisclosed fee.
Mooy only joined the Albion permanently in January from Huddersfield Town for £5 million. Shanghai were also interested then. They have now got their man at the second of time of asking and with China awash with cash when it comes to football, it seems likely that Brighton will have made a tidy profit.
From the player’s point of view, Mooy will now be earning far more than he would at the Amex. He will also be closer to his homeland of Australia. Mooy has a young child; you have to wonder if spending four days on a plane travelling to the other side of the world every time an international break rolls around is in the best interests of his family.
The Australian midfielder initially signed on loan in the final throes of last summer’s transfer window. At the time, many Brighton fans questioned why Graham Potter needed a new number 10 given that he already had Pascal Gross to fill that position.
Potter soon answered the question by switching to a 4-2-2-2 formation and deploying Mooy and Gross in tandem. The first time they were paired together was against Tottenham Hotspur in October when Brighton famously dismantled the Champions League runners up 3-0 at the Amex.
Spurs had no answer to Gross and Mooy with Gross claiming one assist and Mooy giving one of the best individual performances of any Brighton player in the Premier League.
Mooy’s best month in a Brighton shirt came in December. He was voted our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month and notched his first goal for the club, a stunning effort in the 2-0 win over Plucky Little Bournemouth that had a touch of Dennis Bergkamp about it.
Bournemouth were Mooy’s favourite opponents – he also scored in the return match at the Vitality Stadium a month later. Those two goals against the Cherries were his only in Albion colours from 32 appearances.
Brighton should not expect to feel Mooy’s departure too heavily. The Albion are well stocked for number 10s following the summer capture of Adam Lallana from Liverpool, the January acquisition of Alexis Mac Allister and with Gross still on the books.
Where Mooy would fit into an Albion line up in 2020-21 remained unclear. The return of Ben White from The Leeds United makes it likely that Potter will play three at the back this season, reducing the available slots for playmakers.
Mooy could well have found himself relegated to third choice behind Lallana and Mac Allister, not the position that a 29-year-old who should be at the peak of his powers wants to find himself in.
His age means that this is likely to be his last big contract, another factor in his decision to earn as much as he can from a payday in China.
More concerning for Brighton than Aaron Mooy departing for Shanghai will be the fact that the finalised deal appeared online before the club wished for the move to be confirmed.
Somebody in the club’s media department mistakenly uploaded a farewell post to Instagram. Although it was hastily deleted, the damage was done as eagle eyed fans screenshotted it.
It is the second leak of secret news in the space of 24 hours. Yesterday, a photo of the new yellow away kit was leaked online, taken from the club’s media day and undoing months of work to desperately keep it under wraps.
Given how much Paul Barber and the Albion love to control the narrative, we can only begin to imagine the scenes at the Amex in Barber’s office when he heard of this latest breach.
As for Mooy, he goes to China with our best wishes. He was a joy to watch at times and could be unplayable on his day; most notably in the aforementioned Spurs game and when he inspired the Albion to a 2-1 win at Arsenal, the Seagulls’ first victory away at one of the big six.
Mooy’s departure also means that we can no longer wheel out our favourite GIF on a semi-regular basis. Hopefully, Brighton sign another shiny bonced player before the transfer window is out to make up for it.
If Mooy is off to China, I will be gutted for no other reason than it means no longer being able to post this on a semi regular basispic.twitter.com/3QVy43nSZk
— We Are Brighton (@wearebrighton) August 28, 2020
