Andi Zeqiri deserves a first team chance at Brighton in pre-season
By chance rather than design, Andi Zeqiri looks set to start pre-season ahead of the 2023-24 campaign back with Brighton.
Roberto De Zerbi is set to take a look at Zeqiri. It is a opportunity the Swiss international forward deserves for both a goal-laden year at FC Basel and his previous use as a left wing back by Graham Potter.
Zeqiri scored 18 times on loan with Basel during the 2022-23 season. 11 of those goals came in the Swiss Super League, one in the Swiss Cup, five in the Europa Conference proper and one in qualifying.
That total could have been more. Zeqiri found himself left out towards the end of the season as Basel could not afford to meet the price stipulated in the compulsory purchase clause in his loan, which would have been triggered by a certain number of games.
Had Basel had the funds, then Zeqiri would already be their player. Instead, the Swiss club hoped to negotiate a lower price.
Brighton though have not played ball and so his time at St Jakob-Park appears to over, resulting in an unexpected chance to impress De Zerbi.
One man who has been impressed is Albion loans manager and owner of the most successful hair transplant in professional football, Gordon Greer.
Speaking in March, Greer said: “It’s been a bit of a crazy season for Andi, because he went there to be their first choice forward, but Basel had a culture change where they wanted to focus on bringing their own young players through, so Andi was on the bench.”
“But he’s worked his way into the team and he’s scored quite a few goals in the last few months, and has arguably been their best player.”
Zeqiri was used almost exclusively as a out-and-out striker by Basel. And whilst the standard of the Swiss League is not great – it is currently ranked the 13th strongest in Europe behind Serbia, Turkey and even Scotland – his scoring record remains impressive.
Brighton’s current options for the central striking role are Evan Ferguson, Danny Welbeck, Deniz Undav and potentially Joao Pedro, depending on where De Zerbi intends to use the new £30 million man from Watford.
In a normal domestic campaign, there would appear little room for Zeqiri. Brighton though have at least six additional Europa League matches to come in 2023-24, requiring a deeper squad of which Andi Zeqiri could play a valued part.
Evan Ferguson will need his game time carefully managed to avoid burnout. Danny Welbeck played 37 times in all competitions last season, making his injury prone tag look outdated.
But part of the reason Welbeck played so much was because the Albion managed him perfectly. To keep Dat Guy fit and firing, he needs to be rested and rotated. And to rest and rotate, you need options.
As for Pedro, will he play as a nine? Will he play as a 10? Will he even make the grade in the Premier League? That last question could be applied to Zeqiri too. We are yet to see enough of him in a Albion shirt as a centre forward to pass judgement.
Which is the other reason Andi Zeqiri deserves an opportunity to show Brighton what he can do. Zeqiri was a major victim of Potter Roulette in the 2020-21 campaign with two of his longest runouts coming from the bench at left wing back.
One of those was that interesting afternoon at the Amex in December 2020 when rock bottom Sheffield United came within three minutes of their first win of the season after 12 defeats and a solitary draw.
Zeqiri struggled to make much impact when introduced out-of-position against the Blades as Welbeck spared the Albion’s blushes with an 87th minute equaliser.
To make the result even more shambolic for Potter and his Seagulls, United played for over an hour with only 10 men.
Better was to come for Zeqiri away at Southampton on Mother’s Day. He helped Brighton to a rare win at St Mary’s following his half time introduction.
Zeqiri’s only goal for the Albion so far was a very accomplished finish away at Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup in August 2022.
At a time when Brighton’s lack of cutting edge brought joy to xG stat geeks everywhere, he did at least appear to be a little more composed and clinical than some of his rivals in the striker department.
Zeqiri though was sent to Bundesliga side Augusburg a matter of days after scoring in the Welsh capital. He struggled to make much impression, netting only twice in 22 league matches.
His form in Switzerland has been a different story, good enough to push him into De Zerbi’s thinking – for pre-season at the very least.
Finally, there is Zeqiri’s contract situation to consider. His current deal expires next summer, which gives strength to the argument for Brighton to take another look at him.
If he does well in training and during the Albion’s tour to the United States, then he may be worth hanging onto and offering a new deal.
Should De Zerbi decide by the time the Premier League season kicks off on August 12th that Zeqiri is not good enough, Brighton still have three weeks of the summer transfer window to sell and extract some sort of return on their original £3.5 million outlay.
Several Italian clubs are said to be interested and if all else fails, Basel’s interest is well-known – the Albion would just need to lower their asking price.
Zeqiri therefore represents a free hit. There is nothing to lose by seeing if he can increase the depth of De Zerbi’s forward options ahead of a potential marathon season, or if he has nothing to offer and therefore needs to depart elsewhere.
Either way, he deserves a first team chance.
