Brighton snap up Aaron Mooy on season-long loan

Brighton and Hove Albion have completed the deadline day signing of Huddersfield Town midfielder Aaron Mooy.

The Australian will join the Albion on a season-long loan from the recently relegated Terriers, bolstering Graham Potter’s midfield options and potentially allowing Beram Kayal to leave the Amex in search of first team football.

As part of the agreement for allowing Mooy to head to the Amex, he has also signed a new three-year deal with Huddersfield. On the face of it, that sounds very odd but it’s actually an extremely clever move.

Mooy was out of contract come the end of the season and so could have walked away from the John Smith’s Stadium for nothing next year.

He was apparently desperate to play Premier League football in 2019-20, and so Huddersfield said they’d let him go out on-loan to do so, as long as he penned a new contract so that they can sell him for a big fee next summer rather than lose him for nothing. Very shrewd.

Mooy has had what can only be described as a bloody strange career, veering from St Mirren to Manchester City via time done back in his native Australia.

He initially came to Britain with Bolton Wanderers in 2009 but never made an appearance for the Terriers before moving to St Mirren in 2010.

Mooy spent two seasons with the SPL outfit, playing 30 times and scoring twice. He then returned Down Under, having spells in the A-League with Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne City.

Wanderers finished top of the table in Mooy’s first season, reaching the A-League Grand Final where they lost to a Central Coast Mariners side with a certain Maty Ryan in goal.

A year later and Wanderers were back in the final, this time losing to Brisbane Roar. Mooy’s time in the city that gave us Home and Away ended with him having a record of five goals in 53 appearances.

Next up was two years in the city that gave us Neighbours as Mooy moved to Melbourne. It was here that he began to make a real name for himself, scoring 18 goals and registering 14 assists in 53 games.

Melbourne are part of the City Group of clubs and so Manchester City decided to take him to the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2016 in somewhat of a bizarre deal.

He was loaned immediately to Huddersfield, proving to be the inspiration behind the Terriers’ unlikely promotion to the Premier League with four goals and 10 assists in 51 games across all competitions.

His loan deal at the John Smith’s Stadium was turned permanent in the summer of 2017 for £8m with City including a buy-back clause in the deal should Mooy excel in the top flight.

That clause may be another reason as to why Huddersfield were so keen to ensure Mooy remains their player, technically at least, for the next three years.

Should he have a remarkable year as part of the brave new Graham Potter era and up scoring 30 goals and setting up 20 more, Huddersfield could be quids in should City take up the option to re-sign him.

That does however seem unlikely. His Premier League record reads 65 games, seven goals and four assists. While that’s hardly inspiring, he still isn’t some plodder that is coming in just to sit on the bench as a lot of Brighton fans seem to think.

Those numbers are better than Dale Stephens and Davy Propper’s comparative stats and Mooy has been playing in a worse team, one who were relegated with six weeks of the season still be played in 2018-19.

According to The Argus, the Albion have been tracking Mooy for some time and now finally have their man. Where he fits in under Potter will be interesting; in a 3-4-3 he’ll be battling with Stephens and Propper, in a 4-2-3-1 he could well find himself in competition with Pascal Gross for the number 10 shirt.

Gross for our money is the better player, even if Huddersfield fans do view Mooy as one of the best ever to play for their club.

Regardless of where Potter ends up using in, Mooy’s arrival has one guaranteed benefit as it increase the number of shiny bonces in the Brighton squad. Bald players are an area we’ve been severely lacking in since Bruno’s retirement.

It will also improves the chances of Kayal being allowed to leave on loan. The Israeli midfielder could be as low as sixth choice in the pecking order now and at 31, he needs to be playing regular first team football to make the most of the last few years of his career.

Mooy had been out of contract with Huddersfield at the end of the season, but ha

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