Could Brighton look to sell Shane Duffy this summer?
According to no lesser source than his own father, Shane Duffy could be set to leave Brighton and Hove Albion this summer.
That’s the message some fans have decyphered from posts made on a Facebook group by the Albion’s Player of the Season‘s dad.
Brian Duffy made the comments on Sunday afternoon on a post highlighting the fact that Duffy made the most clearaces, most clearances off the line, most headed clearances and was the top goalscoring defender in the Premier League in 2018-19.
Mr Duffy’s first comment read, “He sure did I just hope he stays. Quite a few clubs looking for him”. When another Albion supporter replied saying that he couldn’t see Graham Potter wanting to let him go, Mr Duffy replied with, “It would be nice if he would contact him. Every player bar Shane.”
There could of course be a myriad of reasons as to why the Albion’s new manager hasn’t yet spoken to Duffy. He is after all currently on international duty with the Republic of Ireland and Potter may not want to disturb him while he is attempting to help the Boys in Green qualify for Euro 2020.
Mr Duffy could just be stirring the pot and Potter hasn’t actually spoken to the every other player in the squad yet. Mr Duffy doesn’t exactly have a great track record on social media, having previously left every single Albion group he was a member of on Facebook when things started to turn a little bit sour after some ill-advised postings few years ago. Having a player’s father contributing on such groups seems like a recipe for disaster.
And it will come as little surprise to hear that other clubs are interested in Duffy, regardless of whether Potter has spoken to him or not. Duffy has had a superb season and there could soon be centre back vacanices opening up at bigger and better teams than Brighton.
Leicester City might be in the market for a new defender should Harry Maguie move to Manchester City to replace Vincent Kompany while Duffy’s former club Everton might need a new face should Kurt Zouma’s loan deal from Chelsea not be turned into a permanent move.
Given that Chelsea are under a transfer embargo, they may be reluctant to let any of their players go, knowing that they cannot be replaced for the forseeable future.
In the current marketplace, a 27-year-old with two years of Premier League experience who has excelled as Duffy has could probably fetch between £20m to £30m. But money aisde, would Potter really want to sell Brighton’s best player from the season just gone?
The answer could be yes. Part of the blame for the Albion’s second half of the season collapse has been placed on the apparent drinking culture among some players in the squad.
Duffy undoubtedly plays a part in that. Should Potter want to put an end to such behaviour, then one of the measures he might take is to move on the ringleaders, no matter how important they are on the pitch.
Potter is also extremely keen to bring 22-year-old Portsmouth defender Matt Clarke to the Amex, which would take the number of senior centre backs on the club’s books to five.
Even if Potter decides to implement a back three as he used to great success at Ostersunds, that seems like too many meaning that one of Duffy, Lewis Dunk, Leon Balogun or Dan Burn might be moved on.
If that is Duffy, then many of us will be extremely disappointed to see such a likeable player sold. Mr Duffy seems to think that will be the case, so let us hope that he’s got it very wrong. After all, there ain’t nobody like Shane Duffy.
