Ales Mateju moves to Brescia

Brighton and Hove Albion under 23 right back Ales Mateju has joined Italian club Brescia on a season long loan that looks set to be turned into a permanent £4m transfer next summer.

The Czech under 21 international was signed from Viktoria Plzen in August 2017 for an eye-watering £2m, making him by far and away the most costly player in a development squad that has cost £6m to put together but not produced a single league appearance so far.

Remarkably, we could turn a profit on Mateju should the permanent move part of the loan deal turn out to be true while the £4m fee would make him the second most expensive Albion export of all time, only bettered by Leonardo Ulloa’s £8m move to Leicester in the summer of 2014 – an astonishing fact for a bloke who has a grand total of two Carabao Cup substitute appearances to his name in the 1-0 win over Barnet and the 1-0 defeat away at Plucky Little Bournemouth.

Mateju played 15 times for Simon Rusk’s development squad last season but could never break through to the first team thanks to the form of Bruno and Ezequiel Schelotto.

His chances appear even slimmer this time around following Bernardo’s £9m transfer from Red Bull Leipzig, with the Brazilian able to fill both full back positions although it is expected that he will be used predominantly at left back.

Brescia currently play in Serie B and are owned by The Leeds United’s former madcap owner Massimo Cellino. They finished 16th last time out and although we know absolutely nothing about Italian football below the top flight, if they can afford to spend £4m on a development squad right back they surely must be aiming for promotion this season.