Brighton & Hove Albion January 2021 Transfer Window Round Up

Brighton & Hove Albion were never likely to spend big in the January 2021 transfer window, so such a quiet month both in terms of incoming and outgoings came as a surprise to nobody.

Graham Potter’s squad already had a bloated look to it and the Seagulls had countless young loan players spread around Europe they could recall before making new additions. Any arrivals would add to the near-30 senior professionals on the books.

And that is before you consider the club’s current financial position. A week before the window slammed shut, the Albion released their accounts showing that Brighton had made a £67 million loss in the 2019-20 season, despite a £32 million loan from Tony Bloom.

Any Brighton supporters still harbouring hopes of that clinical £30 million striker arriving to fire the Seagulls into the top 10 must have known at that point to shelf such a dream for the foreseeable future.

You cannot expect Bloom to open his chequebook to go big on a centre forward in the current climate, especially with no guarantees of success. See Locadia, Jurgen, and Jahanbakhsh, Alireza.

So, what did we get? One brand new signing, three players summoned back to the Amex and several high-profile departures clearing some space on the wage bill represented the extent of Brighton’s business. It was a window which is best described as quiet yet component.

 

Brighton and Hove Albion players in, January 2021:

Moises Caicedo – £4.5 million, Independiente del Valle
The only brand new face signed by Brighton in the January 2021 transfer window was Moises Caicedo who joined from Independiente del Valle for a fee of around £4.5 million.

Caicedo is an interesting prospect. At 19-years-old, he is already a full Ecuador international and one of the hottest properties in South American football, drawing comparisons to N’Golo Kante for his abilities as a holding midfielder.

To find such a young player with the maturity to fill that defensive role is rare; Yves Bissouma for example has only blossomed into a holding player in the last year at the age of 23. Caicedo is there already, four years ahead of Bissouma.

Not excited yet? Then how about this quote from South American football expert Tim Vickery: “Caicedo is much more than promise, he is reality. He is a terrific athlete who makes football look easy. A box-to-box midfielder.”

“A year ago he was saying that Kante is his role model but he is already more than that. He already offers more in the final third. He is strong, quick, intelligent and cool. He really does look like the genuine article.”

How then has he ended up at Brighton? The answer is because Brighton were willing to put in the effort to get a deal done, cutting through a complex web of third party ownership and agent involvement. That so many individuals wanted or were involved with Caicedo is another indication of his talents.

Manchester United had looked set to sign Caicedo having agreed a fee with Independiente. They pulled out though because the player’s ownership was so murky – one United official rather brilliantly described it as “a clusterf**k”.

The Albion have experience of such matters having bought Billy Arce from Independiente in 2018. Independiente were eager to help facilitate Caicedo’s move to Brighton because of the Arce transfer, hardly a surprise given that the Ecuadorian club pocketed over £900,000 for a player whose biggest achievement in the past three seasons is to spend 20 days in an Ecuadorian prison.

It seems doubtful that we will see Caicedo in a Brighton shirt straight away. The manner in which Brighton have patiently eased Bissouma and Alexis Mac Allister into English football, letting them adapt over a year or more provides a blueprint for how to handle Caicedo.

Long term, he seems likely to be the heir to Bissouma once Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United or Real Madrid pay big money for the Malian. And if Caicedo lives up to the hype and expectations, he could even be an upgrade. An incredible thought.

 

Percy Tau – Recalled from loan, Anderlecht
Brexit means Brexit and for Brighton, it meant that they were finally able to secure Percy Tau a British Work Permit. To balance out the difficulty English clubs now face in signing young players from the EU with freedom of movement no longer existing, the FA relaxed the rules for players coming to the country from outside of Europe from Janauary 1st 2021.

Good news for Brighton and good news for Tau, who could end a two-and-a-half year loan odyssey in Belgium spent with Union Saint-Gilloise, Club Brugge and Anderlecht.

His time in the land of good cheese and beers of mind altering strength saw him score 21 goals, assist 23, win the Proximus Player of the Season award for the best player in Belgium’s second tier and lift the Jupiler League title with Club.

We have already had a glimpse of what the Lion of Judah can bring to the party and it is different to Brighton’s other forward options. He is quick, direct and wants to take people on. His performance at Manchester City was particularly encouraging as he gave the most in-form backline in the Premier League a bit of a fright.

Presuming Potter does not coach Tau’s instincts to run at people out of the Lion of Judah in favour of turning him into a sideways passing machine, then he should have much to offer – especially on those occasions when pace is needed to unlock an opposition defence.

 

Jakub Moder – Recalled from loan, Lech Poznan
Brighton recalled two young Polish internationals from loans in their home country, the first of whom was midfielder Jakub Moder. The Albion forked out £9.5 million for his services back in October, allowing him to stay in Poland with his former club Lech Poznan until their Europa League adventure came to an end.

Elimination at the group stages means that Moder now finds himself in England. At 6’2, the 21-year-old adds height to a squad that is lacking in that department in every position other than defence.

Moder has been used as a defensive midfielder, a central midfielder, a number 10, out wide on both flanks and as a centre forward in his fledgling career so far. Before the Seagulls swooped, Moder had been interesting a German club by the name of Bayern Munich.

Most observers expect this versatility to translate into him becoming a box-to-box midfielder over the coming years, so he is another player like Caicedo who will fancy himself as the successor to Bissouma. Brighton are looking very well stocked in that area.

 

Michal Karbownik – Recalled from loan, Legia Warsaw
Whilst Moder’s recall to Brighton in the January 2021 transfer window was not unexpected, the early summoning of his compatriot Michal Karbownik from Legia Warsaw came as something of a pleasant surprise.

The 19-year-old had been expected to spend the entire season with Legia, helping them to defend the Ekstraklasa title they won in 2019-20. Instead, he arrives at the Amex to challenge for a place in both wing back positions and as a defensive midfielder.

Before the Albion paid £5 million for his services, Karbownik had been watched by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Napoli, Dynamo Moscow, Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven, Real Betis and, er, Celtic. His signing represents something of a coup for the Albion.

It may be a while before we see Karbownik. Like Caicedo and to a lesser extent Moder, he will be carefully managed. He also arrived in England having not played since the start of December due to a combination of a leg injury and Poland’s winter break.

Once he is up the speed, then Potter will finally have an alternative to Solly March on the left and Tariq Lamptey and Joel Veltman on the right.

 

Brighton and Hove Albion players out, Summer 2020:

 

Glenn Murray – Free transfer, Nottingham Forest
Goodbye, sweet prince. It was the end of an era as Glenn Murray bid farewell to the Albion for good, moving on a free transfer to Nottingham Forest where he reunites with Chris Hughton, Anthony Knockaert and Gaetan Bong – it took approximately 30 seconds from the announcement of Murray’s arrival at the City Ground for someone to mock up the ‘four lads’ meme with the 2016-17 Brighton band reunited.

Watching Neal Maupay, Aaron Connolly and Alireza Jahanbakhsh miss open goals from two yards out this season made many Brighton fans pine for Murray.

Potter though was never a fan and with the veteran striker’s career coming to an end, he deserves to be playing first team football – not training alone as he was in a disastrous loan spell Watford or sitting in the stands at the Amex.

Forest are getting a striker who knows where the back of the net is and can thrive under Hughton and alongside Knockaert. After 111 goals in 287 matches, Murray’s Albion career is over. Thanks for the memories, Glenn.

 

Maty Ryan – Loan, Arsenal
If you had said to us back in the summer that Maty Ryan would leave Brighton in the January 2021 transfer window to join Arsenal on loan, then we would have asked you what strength crack you had been smoking and where we could get some.

Ryan’s fall from grace and subsequent departure is a reminder of how quickly things can change in football. At the start of December, he was Potter’s number one.

Robert Sanchez then took over, kept a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw at Fulham, after which Potter took the unusual step of saying that Sanchez was now number one and Jason Steele was number two.

Worse was to come for Ryan as days later reports leaked from the Amex that he had been told to find a new club. Christian Walton’s return from injury relegated Ryan further down the pecking order to fourth choice.

You would struggle to find a Brighton fan who did not think Ryan needed a break from the side after some poor performances. But for Potter to decide that Steele is a better goalkeeper and that Ryan should find a new club – any new club – was astonishing.

It is also something of a risk. Sanchez has been impressive in most of his appearances so far, but he is still young and young players are prone to going through bad runs of form.

If that happens, Potter has willingly disposed of an experienced, solid Premier League goalkeeper in Ryan who could take over. His options other than Sanchez are just the equally unproven Walton and Steele who, although he was superb in the penalty shoot out at Newport County, had a shocker over the 120 minutes against League Two opponents.

For Ryan, things have worked out relatively well. He is an Arsenal fan and so now has the opportunity to live the dream playing for the club he supported as a boy. For Brighton, we can just hope Sanchez keeps playing as well as he has.

 

Bernardo – Loan, Red Bull Salzburg
Whilst a lot of players have progressed under Potter’s management, one who has undoubtedly gone backwards is Bernardo. One of the better players in the 2018-19 season under Chris Hughton after signing from Red Bull Leipzig for £9 million, he has started just eight Premier League matches out of a possible 57 since Potter took over in the summer of 2019.

Typically, Bernardo had showed signs that maybe he was beginning to rediscover his form of two seasons ago just before his departure. He had a good game in the Albion’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal and was one of Brighton’s better players at Manchester City after spending the first 20 minutes trotting around like a bloke who had smoked 60 Lambert & Butler before kick off.

Karbownik’s recall probably pushed Bernardo further down the left wing back pecking order however, and so he returns to Red Bull Salzburg on loan having played 26 times for the Austrian club in 2016.

With little prospect of a future at the Amex, both Brighton and Bernardo will be hoping that he performs well enough in the next six months with Salzburg to convince someone to buy him this summer.

 

Jayson Molumby – Loan, Preston North End
Competition for places is fierce in midfield for Brighton which has necessitated a January 2021 transfer window move for Jayson Molumby as the highly rated 21-year-old joins Preston North End on loan.

Both Preston and Millwall were interested in taking Molumby permanently, so the fact that the Albion only sanctioned a temporary switch suggests that Potter still sees him as having a future at the Amex.

Molumby enjoyed a highly successful season in the Championship with Millwall in 2019-20, helping the Lions in their surprise place for a playoff place.

Further experience in the second tier will serve him well and should keep him in the Republic of Ireland international fold, having broken into the senior squad in September.

 

Max Sanders – Undisclosed, Lincoln City
Max Sanders’ sale to Lincoln City came a bit out of the blue. It was announced at around 11.30pm on deadline day and meant that Brighton had sold a midfielder who they were very keen on to the League One Imps.

Sanders’ route to the first team was particularly congested, so perhaps we should not have been surprised at his permanent departure. Having already shone in the third tier with AFC Wimbledon last season, it will be interesting to see how he gets on in helping Michael Appleton side’s promotion push. Definitely a name to keep an eye on.

 

Brighton & Hove Albion January 2021 transfer window scorecard

Positives:

• Big earners like Maty Ryan, Glenn Murray and Bernardo have been cleared off the wage bill
• Moises Caicedo could be an absolute bargain at £4.5 million
• Two of the most exciting young players in Poland have arrived earlier than expected
• Tariq Lamptey signing a new contract is nearly as good as a new signing
• More pace added to the squad with Percy Tau

Negatives:

• If Robert Sanchez suffers a dip in form, loaning Ryan to Arsenal may end up looking very silly
• No new striker – but hardly a surprise given the financial situation

 

WeAreBrighton.com Transfer Window Rating: 6.8/10