Brighton’s Summer 2018 Transfer Window Round Up

With Tony Bloom signing off on over £50m of new signings, the summer 2018 transfer window will go down as one of the biggest in Brighton and Hove Albion history.

Chris Hughton had said at the end of the 2017-18 season he didn’t expect to do much business. If this is his idea of not much business, then we’d love to know what a busy summer would look like.

10 new first team players arrived and 10 went out, with Alireza Jahanbakhsh becoming the most expensive signing in Albion history at £17m and Yves Bissouma the third at £15m.

There were some strange deals as well. Brighton moved to sign “the worst goalkeeper Sunderland have ever had” in Jason Steele and we also bought in Dan Burn from Wigan Athletic despite the fact he has a broken foot and was loaned straight back to the Latics. That one seems particularly strange given the way the club pulled out of deals a year ago for Raphael Dwamena and Renato Neto because of problems thrown up by their medicals.

Going out, veterans Steve Sidwell and Liam Rosenior were both released, we lost two quality backup goalkeepers in Tim Krul and Niki Maenpaa and the popular Connor Goldson understandably wanted first team football, moving to the Scottish Pub League with Rangers.

Here’s the full run down of the Albion’s summer 2018 transfer business.

Brighton and Hove Albion players in, summer 2018:

Alireza Jahanbakhsh – AZ Alkmaar, £17m
Brighton’s new record signing arrived from AZ Alkmaar for a fee of £17m after the Albion had fought off Leicester City and Napoli for his signature. Jahanbakhsh was the top scorer in the Eredivisie last season but as we know with the contrasting experiences provided by the likes of Jurgen Locadia and Elvis Manu compared to Davy Propper, signing players from Dutch football is a notoriously tricky business. On paper, he looks like he should address the lack of goals in the side coming from anywhere other than Glenn Murray and Pascal Gross but the jury will be very much out on this one until he starts delivering. A big fee and having millions of Iranian’s like you on Instagram does not necessarily mean you’ll be a hit in the Premier League.

Yves Bissouma – LOSC Lille, £15m
Young Mali midfielder Bissouma became Brighton’s third most expensive signing of all time, costing a cool £15m from Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille. Already, he’s managed to make quite the impression. He scored a powerful, Richard Carptenter-esque free kick on his pre-season debut away at Birmingham City and followed that up by creating more in a 20 minute cameo in the season opener at Watford then the rest of his team mates had managed over the course of the previous 70 minutes. He looks to be unlike anything else we have in the centre of midfield – a player who wants to run with the ball, attack other teams with pace and directness and make things happen. When we sought the views of LOSC fans about Bissouma, they said he had all the attributes to be the next Paul Pogba, providing he sorted out his attitude. On the small amount we’ve seen so far, it looks like they weren’t exaggerating.

Bernardo – Red Bull Leipzig, £9m
As good as Gaetan Bong and Markus Suttner were last season, it was pretty evident that left back was the weakest area of the Albion’s back four. Hughton has sought to address that by paying £9m for young Brazilian full back Bernardo from Red Bull Leipzig. He’s enjoyed plenty of success on the continent and has experienced European football with both Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg. Bernardo’s versatlity could also prove to be an asset, with him able to play at right back, centre back and even in the centre of midfield.

Martin Montoya – Valencia, £6m
An 11th hour signing just as the transfer window was about to slam shut, Valencia right back Montoya had appeared all set to join the Albion’s Premier League rivals Fulham until a last minute change of heart saw him rock up at the Amex for £6m. Previously Dani Alves’ understudy at Barcelona, before his arrival we seemed to be well stocked for right backs with both Bruno and Ezequiel Schelotto having their moments in the Premier League last season. His pedigree suggests he will be a step up on both of those however and we have done pretty well out of signings from Valencia down the years.

Dan Burn – Wigan Athletic, £3.5m
The only conclusion that can be drawn as to the reasoning for signing defender Burn from Wigan Athletic is that the recruitment team were bored on deadline day. Effectively, we’ve forked out £3.5m for a player who isn’t young, doesn’t seem to have much potential to suddenly make it in the Premier League and has a broken foot. Who we’ve also sent straight back to Wigan on loan. He may tick the home grown quota that the Albion have been struggling to fulfil, but seeing as he won’t even be named in the 25 man squad until after Christmas, this deal seems staggeringly pointless.

Leon Balogun – Mainz, free transfer
Picking up an experienced Bundesliga defender who is also a regular with Nigeria on a free transfer looks like a great piece of business, even more so when you consider that the likelihood is that he’ll spend most of this season as back up to Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy. Balogun looks like he should provide quality, professional cover just as Uwe Hunemeier did. And if the brilliant article that he penned for The Players Tribune during the World Cup is anything to go by, he should also prove to be a brilliant bloke like Hunemeier.

Florin Andone – Deportivo La Coruna, £5.2m
Hughton wanted to bring in Romanian striker Andone last season, but balked at the £17m being demanded Deportivo La Coruna. Fast forward a year and Deportivo have been relegated from La Liga, meaning the Albion can trigger a release clause in Andone’s contract and pick him up for only £5.2m. He arrived at the Amex with a niggling injury which means we haven’t seen much of him yet, but presuming he can get a shot to go somehow in the vague direction of the goal then he should prove to be better than Locadia. Like Locadia though, he doesn’t seem to be a Glenn Murray sort of player, which begs the question just where does he fit in without a system change?

Percy Tau – Mamelodi Sundowns, £2.8m
South African Player of the Year Tau became his countries record footballing export when the Albion forked out £2.8m to buy him from Mamelodi Sundowns after what was, frankly, a shambles of a transfer chase. Unfortunately, his lack of international football so far coupled with the fact that South African are so far down the FIFA World Rankings means that he doesn’t yet qualify for a work permit to work in Britain. As a result, the forward will have to spend this season out on loan in Europe. The club originally said that wouldn’t be with Bloom’s newly purchased second team Union SG in Belgium, but with no other suitors found so far it may well be that he spends a year in the Belgian second tier.

David Button – Fulham, £4m.
Krul and Maenpaa’s decisions not to renew their Albion contracts meant that goalkeeping reinforcement were desperately needed, especially with Maty Ryan set to miss up to seven games after Christmas when Australia defend their Asian Cup of Nations title. Costing around £4m from Fulham, Button has been bought in to play second fiddle to Ryan this year. He began last season as the Cottagers number one but finished it as a number two as Fulham won promotion through the play offs. Perhaps most importantly, he ticks one of the home-grown quota which seems to be the number one reason for signing a goalkeeper these days as we’ve seen with Chelsea bringing in Robert Green and Manchester United Lee Grant.

Jason Steele – Sunderland, free
Described by Sunderland blog The Roker Report as “the worst goalkeeper Sunderland have ever had”, Steele was rewarded for his part in the Black Cats’ relegation to League One with a move to the Premier League. His YouTube highlight reel for Sunderland is particularly comical, so thank Christ it seems extremely unlikely we’ll ever actually have to see him playing in a league game. Until Button gets injured on January 1st and there is nobody else left to go in goal…

Brighton and Hove Albion players out, summer 2018:

Connor Goldson – Rangers, £3m
There were plenty of Albion fans left unhappy with Goldson’s move to Rangers, but in reality it was a good deal for all parties. Goldson was never going to break up the Lewis Dunk-Shane Duffy partnership and he’d played only 42 games in three seasons at the Amex. At the age of 25 and especially given what happened with his heart, he needs to be playing regular first team football, which he wasn’t going to get at the Albion. By moving to Rangers, he can fulfil his potential north of the border under the management of Steven Gerrard, a hero of the Liverpool supporting Goldson. The £3.5m fee isn’t bad either for a bloke with only 32 career games outside of the bottom two tiers of English football and with various performance related add-ons, it will almost certainly rise beyond that.

Sam Baldock – Reading, £1m
With Hughton’s change of formation from 4-4-2 in the Championship to 4-4-1-1 in the Premier League, it was always going to be difficult for Baldock following promotion. A pre-season injury didn’t help matters and as a result, he made only two league appearances off the bench last season. The Albion may have made a loss on the striker they signed from Bristol City for £2m in August 2014, but his contribution to the club reaching the top flight of 16 goals over three seasons will never be forgotten. Providing Reading can get him fit and firing, he should prove to be a good addition for the Biscuitment.

Oliver Norwood – Sheffield United, £2m
Very much a Championship player, Norwood helped the Albion to promotion in 2016-17 and then repeated the feat last season with Fulham. The Cottagers didn’t think him up to the Premier League after their play-off final win and despite a lot of interest from Hull City, Norwood has now moved to Sheffield United. Initially a loan deal, the move will be turned permanent in January for a fee of £2m.

Jiri Skalak – Millwall, £800,000
In his first four months at the Albion, Skalak was every bit as important his fellow new signing Anthony Knockaert. For the remaining 24, he has been pretty terrible. Didn’t manage a single appearance in the Premier League and the most surprising thing was that Millwall were actually willing to break their transfer record for him, paying £800,000. We’ll always have a soft spot for Skalak however. How could you not like a bloke who celebrates promotion by getting pissed up in his back garden and taking a photo of himself standing on a chair in his full replica kit waving a load of Brighton flags around?

Uwe Hunemeier – Padeborn, free transfer
Just like Goldson, Hunemeier was unable to break up that Dunk-Duffy partnership. The club wanted to keep him, but he understandably wanted the first team football that his former club Padeborn could offer and so the BFG returned to his native Germany. His on-the-pitch impact may have been limited, but off-the-pitch Hunemeier was one of the classiest acts we’ve seen. Many senior pros would’ve considered it a slight or an insult to be asked to play for the under 23s, but he not only did so with a smile on his face but also loved the fact that Simon Rusk’s side won promotion to the top flight of Premier League 2 and the Sussex Senior Cup. What a guy.

Liam Rosenior – retired
After just two Premier League appearances, the Albion understandably announced that Rosenior would not be having his contract renewed. He stated that he wanted to continue playing in the Championship, so it was a welcome surprise when it was announced in July that he had appointed as assistant with the under 23s. That could turn out to be a very shrewd move by Brighton. Rosenior talks a good game, comes across as a class bloke and looks to have the tools needed to succeed in management in the future.

Steve Sidwell – released
Although he hasn’t officially joined in Rosenior in the retirement home, it does seem just a matter of time before Sidwell will. He didn’t play at all last season after suffering two serious injuries over the course of the Albion’s debut Premier League campaign, one of which involved having surgery on his back. As a result, he was released in the summer but it is another player who will go down as Brighton great, not just for his role in the promotion winning campaign but also the excitement he bought when a starry-eyed 18-year-old bought in from Arsenal some 15 years previously.

Tim Krul – Norwich City, free
Signed late last summer when there were questions surrounding whether Ryan was good enough for the Premier League, Krul’s arrival sparked a complete turnaround in the form of the Australian number one and as such, Krul had to settle for just cup appearances. Having not been a number one for an entire season since the 2014-15 season at Newcastle United, it was understandable to see Krul turn down the offer of a new deal at the Amex in favour of seeking regular first team football in the Championship with Norwich City.

Niki Maenpaa – Bristol City, free
Maenpaa was in the same boat as Krul, except he hadn’t played any regular football since signing for Brighton from VVV Venlo in 2015. Three seasons as backup to firstly David Stockdale and then Ryan and Krul were enough, and he turned down a new deal to move to Bristol City. Never really given a fair chance to stake his claim as a number one at the Amex, especially after keeping a clean sheet in his only league game against Rotherham United only to see Stockdale recalled straight away, we hope he gets a chance to show what he can do in the Championship. It looks like he will, having started City’s opening two fixtures.

Rohan Ince – released
When Ince first burst onto the scene in 2013, he kept the Albion’s back-to-back Player of the Year winner Liam Bridcutt out of the side while looking like he had the world at his feet. Five years and three loan spells later and he has been released without any sort of fanfare and is still yet to find a club after an unsuccessful trial with Charlton Athletic. Somebody should sign him based purely on that goal and celebration away at Swindon Town in the League Cup in 2014.

Brighton and Hove Albion Summer 2018 Transfer Window Scorecard

Positives:

• The defence was already pretty strong. With the additions of Martin Montoya and Bernardo, we’ve tightened up the two weakest areas of it.
• Dale Stephens and Davy Propper had a monopoly on the central midfield positions last season. Yves Bissouma looks a real find and should shake that up
• We’ve bought in two players in Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Florin Andone who have records that suggest they should know where the goal is
• No big name players were sold. The likes of Maty Ryan, Lewis Dunk and Pascal Gross all remain here, with the only departures being fringe players

Negatives:

• There is still no alternative to Glenn Murray. Unless Chris Hughton abandons his 4-4-1-1, we’re relying on a bloke who will be 35 in September to score the goals to keep us up.
• Neither David Button or Jason Steele inspire confidence as number two goalkeepers. Especially with Maty Ryan set to be away for up to seven games at the turn of the year.
• Liam Rosenior, Steve Sidwell and Uwe Hunemeier all offered vast experience and professionalism to the squad. Their replacements are young players experiencing their first tastes of English football.
• We’ve seen with Jurgen Locadia, Elvis Manu and Danny Holla that buying from Dutch football is a big risk. Will Jahanbakhsh follow in their footsteps?

WeAreBrighton.com Transfer Window Rating: 7.5/10