Brighton might sell but it never stops the Seagulls soaring
A new year and a new transfer window arrives, with all the predictions, speculation and rumour that come with these calendrical fixtures.
With the World Cup still receding in the rear view mirror, it is no wonder that a record number of Albion players are being linked with big money moves to big money sides, from the Premier League “Big Six” and Newcastle United to top Champions League sides in France, Spain, Italy and elsewhere.
Robert Sanchez, Leandro Trossard and of course Alexis Mac Allister are all the subject of media and online pundit speculation over transfer moves “up” following the tournament in Qatar, even though Sanchez got no game time at all with Spain.
And if you believe what you read on Twitter, Moises Caicedo has agreed terms with at least three clubs already to increase his wages beyond the 20 pence per week and bag of magic beans Brighton are apparently paying him.
The view of the more informed experts seems to be that, barring any huge, cannot-be-refused bids, it is unlikely we will see any departures in the January window.
Andy Naylor from The Athletic has written it would take an “extraordinary offer” to prize any of Albion’s stars from this season’s team.
Come the summer though, an exit by one or more of our best players seems inevitable. Even the more recent arrivals like Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan might, in the manner of Marc Cucurella, move on after just one season if they continue to impress.
Losing two of these players would be a blow, but as we have seen with the departures of Ben White, Yves Bissouma and Cucurella, far from a fatal one to our league performance.
The ability of the club to replace both players and coaching staff is verging on the legendary, noted and admired in boardrooms and sports newsrooms around Europe.
Losing three or four might be a different matter. With the heart and spine of the squad removed, it could take longer to recover.
No doubt that there would be ample funds to rebuild, with the combined receipts for MacAllister, Caicedo and Leandro Trossard even with his contract situation surely being well in excess of £150 million.
The Albion usually signs players for between £6 million to £20 million, with only Adam Webster and Enock Mwepu breaching that ceiling so far.
Players commanding bigger fees than that will likely expect higher remuneration than the club’s very rigid wage structure allows.
As I have said before, the Amex is now a destination very much on the radar of players and agents seeking a route into Premier League football.
Brighton offer a stage for individuals to showcase their talent. And if they play well, they can expect interest from US franchise and oil-rich club owners with bottomless pockets from which to pay the unimaginably vast salaries young footballers aspire to.
Tony Bloom and Paul Barber cannot – indeed will not – compete with those kind of wages. It would be unsustainable and put the club at financial risk.
As our fortunes improve and revenues grow, perhaps there will be some room for manoeuvre, but not in the short term.
It would be pretty amazing and surprising if most wealthy clubs were not pursuing a proven Premier League player and World Cup winner like Alexis MacAllister.
Ultimately it is up to him, his family and his agent whether he wants to compete for a place in a “bigger club” or be guaranteed a starring role here. The same goes for the others.
They have to weigh up whether they want to be paid big money to frequently warm the bench at Stamford Bridge or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, have an opportunity of Champions League football at the Etihad or Anfield, or be guaranteed a starting XI role at the Amex.
In a career that, even barring serious injury, lasts only around 15 years, it’s understandable that players want to take whatever opportunities arise. Who doesn’t move to a bigger company with better pay if offered the chance?
Perhaps, by the time the window opens again in the summer, Roberto De Zerbi will have led us to the promised land of European football, though more likely the Europa League than the Champions League.
That may be enough to tempt one or two to stay who might otherwise have moved on for the chance to experience continental competition.
It may be that the wealthiest clubs look at their options, their current squads, and the deals on the table and decide not to make the signing.
Even the “Big Six” have limits on the numbers of players they can sign and, in theory at least, the money they can spend.
Bloom and Barber will not sell cheaply, as Chelsea found when being made to make Cucurella the most expensive full back in football history.
For me, there is little point in getting angry and frustrated at other clubs “poaching” our best talent. It is the business of football.
All the while we have ultra-wealthy Saudi or American ownership that is going to happen. I am far happier with the financial limitations under our fan-owner than selling out to people for whom football starts and ends with a balance sheet.
Go back six or seven years and it was the entire 20 team Premier League that was a step-up from the Albion, never mind Champions League teams across Europe.
Now it is six or seven English clubs at most who are not regarded as a sideways move by players at a club potentially establishing itself as a top 10 mainstay.
Few are like Lewis Dunk and play for the badge, for the love of the team. If we are lucky, some will like the squad they are part of, the club and its facilities, the city and their place in it enough to stay for a while at least.
Players come and go, but our squad has got better and better with each cohort of new signings. Not all signings are a success, but collectively they are propelling us higher each season.
The Athletic links us with Fiorentina’s Christian Kouame and Ukrainian Mykola Matviyenko, so the traffic will not be one way.
Players like Julio Enciso and new Argentinian signing Facundo Buonanotte increasingly see Brighton as a club where they can follow in the footsteps of Bissouma and Mac Allister.
For the time they are with us, we benefit from them. They play their part in moving the club forward, towards the top six, towards Europe, towards being a “big club” that itself poaches talent from teams below.
So do not cry into your beer when they have gone, celebrate that they were here at all.
RIP Pele.
Warren Morgan @WarrenBHAFC
