Beram Kayal signs new Brighton contract
Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Beram Kayal has signed a one-year contract extension with the club, keeping him at the Amex until the summer of 2020.
The Israeli international’s current deal had been set to expire at the end of the season. Chris Hughton and the Albion have moved early to ward off possible interest from clubs abroad, who would’ve been able to strike a pre-contract agreement with the midfielder from January.
Kayal was Chris Hughton’s first permanent signing as Albion manager, arriving from Celtic for a fee of around £250,000 in January 2015. He instantly looked a cut above anything else in that absolutely terrible 2014-15 season squad, making his debut as an 85th minute substitute against Nottingham Forest in place of Danny Holla.
It took him just five minutes to open his account, scoring the Albion’s second goal with an injury time strike as the Tricky Trees left the Amex with all three points in a 3-2 win.
He was a virtual ever present for 18 months from that point on and once Dale Stephens was fully fit for the start of the following season, the two proved to be one of the best central midfield partnerships in the Championship. Kayal played in all but three of the Albion’s league games as Hughton’s side came within two goals of automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Kayal endured an injury plagued 2016-17 but still managed 20 appearances in the promotion winning campaign. That was despite missing four months with a broken ankle sustained in the 2-0 win over Barnsley in September. His reward for battling back from that was to score on his return in the FA Cup against MK Dons, a 2-0 victory in which his fellow countryman Tomer Hemed also netted. Israeli men, hallelujaha, as The Weather Girls might have sung.
Last season wasn’t much better on the injury front. This time, Kayal broke his leg in pre-season, ruling him out of the first four months. He belatedly made his Premier League bow in the defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur in December, going onto play 23 times.
The vast majority of those appearances were from the bench as he couldn’t force his way into the side ahead of Stephens and summer signing Davy Propper, except for in games away against the top six when Hughton would sacrifice Pascal Gross in favour of a five man midfield.
Kayal did get a mini run of games in March and April when Stephens was injured and then Propper suspended and he played well enough to be voted into second place in our WeAreBrighton.com April Player of the Month poll.
What the Israeli has shown over the past two years is his tenacity and determination to battle back from serious setbacks and his value as a squad player. Kayal may not be good enough to start in the Premier League and Hughton’s love of chucking him on in the 75th minute no matter what the situation can be particularly frustrating at times, but at this moment in time he provides solid back up should misfortune strike one of Propper or Stephens.
If the club are serious about being regulars in the top 10, then they’ll need an upgrade on Kayal in one of the next two transfer windows, but for the moment he remains third choice, especially with Hughton yet to trust £15m man Yves Bissouma to start in one of the traditional central midfield positions.
Kayal can expect a decent run of games over the next few weeks. Stephens is out with what Hughton has described as a “minor problem”, which history suggests means we won’t be seeing him for another six weeks and Gross is also unavailable with a similar complaint.
