Alzate’s debut is a watershed moment for Brighton’s development squad
Glass ceiling. It’s a phrase that one former Brighton manager used to love talking about as his excuse for not being able to take the Albion into the Premier League.
Of course, the mythical barrier to the top flight that Gus Poyet used to frequently reference was comprehensively smashed through by Chris Hughton.
No glass ceiling there, Señor Poyet. Just your failure to get a team including Tomasz Kuszczak, Bruno, Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge, Liam Bridcutt, Vicente and Leonardo Ulloa promoted against a Crystal Palace side made up of free transfers and youth team products.
The glass ceiling that Poyet referred to may have proven to be bollocks, but there has been a very real one elsewhere at the Amex. We’re talking about the glass ceiling between the Under 23s and the first team.
Before Steve Alzate started in the 0-0 draw away at Newcastle United, the last development squad player to be given a full debut in the league was Christian Walton in November 2014. Five long years ago.
Sami Hyypia was the man who threw Walton in for his first appearance in the Championship, a 1-0 Tuesday night win over Wigan Athletic.
That proved to be Hyppia’s last victory and as a result, the Finn was picking up his P45 less than two months later. In came Hughton and during his four-and-a-half years at the helm, he gave just 18 minutes of playing time in the league to the two academy graduates who made their debut under him.
Defender Rob Hunt played 17 of those when an injury to Bruno forced Hughton to introduce him away at Burton Albion on Saturday 17th September 2016.
James Tilley was the lucky man to get the other minute when coming on away at Middlesbrough in a dead rubber for the final game of the 2014-15 season.
Tony Bloom has thrown many millions of pounds at the development squad over the past five years, and so far all it has really delivered is a nice profit on right back Alejs Mateju who was sold to Brescia for £4m without ever making a league appearance in the stripes.
You probably remember the names of other players signed amongst great fanfare who we never saw hide nor hair of. Jack Harper from Real Madrid. Vahid Hambo, who was meant to be the Finnish Zlatan Ibrahimović. Henrik Bjørdal. Mathias Normann.
And our personal favourite, Tyler Hornby-Forbes. He sounded like the Conservative Member of Parliament for Windsor and Eton rather than a professional footballer.
That’s why Alzate’s debut feels like a big deal. Somebody has finally managed to break through from development squad to earn a place in the first team starting line up – and you suspect there could be many more to follow now.
Aaron Connolly has had two lively cameos from the bench and he can’t be too far away from a start himself. Summer signing from Manchester City Taylor Richards is highly rated and finding his feet at the club in the Under 23s.
Jayson Molumby was named as the fourth best player at this summer’s Toulon Tournament and although he isn’t currently tearing up too many trees out on loan at Millwall, he clearly has talent.
And then there’s Ben White at The Leeds United. He was voted as the Championship Player of the Month for August and is working under one of the best managers in the world in Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road.
Presuming he can find a way past the six other senior centre backs when he returns to the Albion, he’s an intriguing prospect.
Alzate’s success will make each of those other players’ paths a little easier. It helps that Alzate himself didn’t look out of place in the Premier League. He might have even had a debut goal were it not for a pretty tight offside call against him.
Credit should go to Graham Potter for throwing him in, too. There is clearly a lot of talent in the Under 23s given that they finished third in Premier League 2 last season, but it still represents a huge risk to pitch an untested youngster into a vital top flight fixture.
It’s something that Hughton would never have done. And Alzate repaid Potter’s faith in spectacular style. Solly March – ironically the last development squad product to become a first team regular six seasons ago now – has a battle on his hands to get his place back.
Alzate hasn’t broken the glass ceiling yet, but he’s done a bloody good job at putting a little crack in it. Now, it’s up to the others to join him in hammering away.
Should Connolly, Molumby, White or any of the other members of Simon Rusk’s development squad establish themselves in the first team over the coming years, then we’ll look back at Alzate’s debut as being the moment that youth got it’s chance again. It’s been a long time coming.
