Crossing the divide: Should Brighton have signed Patrick van Aanholt?

Steven Berghuis is a Dutch international winger who moved from Feyenoord to Ajax this summer. He had five relatively successful years in Rotterdam, winning the league title in 2017 and the Dutch Cup in 2018.

Transfer activity between the two Dutch clubs is as rare as an unchanged Albion line-up under Graham Potter. The rivalry between these giants with the largest following in the Netherlands is truly off the scale.

The situation is so bad that away supporters have not been allowed at fixtures between the two since 2009. Berghuis and his family received death threats and unimaginable abuse following his transfer.

He will however play in the Champions League against the world’s best for Ajax this coming season and most likely win a further handful of Dutch silverware. Only he will be able to say if the move across the divide was worth the aggravation in the end.

Football is just a game, right? Try tell that to the players involved in these transfers between rivals, so sensitive that it explains why moves across divides are so rare:

• Sol Campbell from Spurs to Arsenal. Daniel Levy lost his star player on a free transfer. He seems to have learned since.

• Luis Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid. Figo had all sorts of objects thrown at him on his return to the Nou Camp, including a pig’s head.

• Ashley Cole from Arsenal to Chelsea. Nicknamed ‘Cashley’ for the remainder of his career.

• Mo Johnston from Celtic to Rangers (via Nantes). Mo had to live in London whilst playing for Ranges as both sets of Old Firm supporters hated the poor lad.

• Carlos Tevez from Manchester United to Manchester City. I have no affection for either club whatsoever but the ‘Welcome to Manchester’ banner that City produced was comedy gold.

What has this got to do with the Albion I hear you ask? Not an awful lot in all honesty. Berghuis did spend the 2015-16 season at Brighton’s next opponents Watford after a £4.5 million transfer from AZ Alkmaar. He made 13 appearances for Watford in all competitions but never scored.

Watford’s main threat against the Albion will come from their right winger, Ismaila Sarr. The Senegalese livewire had Aston Villa’s Matt Targett on toast last week during a torrid first half.

Targett is a respected Premier League defender but he had no answer to Sarr’s raw pace and power. Villa’s manager Dean Smith rewarded Targett with an early half time bath for his troubles. Watford were already 2-0 up and the damage was done.

This made me think: how will the Albion cope with Sarr? What are the odds Graham Potter will give Pascal Gross another shot at left back? Let’s quickly move on from that thought as it seems like a recipe for disaster.

Solly March has made the left wing back position his own but his main strengths are not the defensive aspects that the job requires.

Michal Karbownik is not ready and Joel Veltman is still on a ‘pingdemic’ enforced holiday – not to mention that he is not a left back, but when has that stopped Potter before?

Dan Burn played at left back with mixed success last season, especially when exposed against Wolves’ Adama Traore when he looked vulnerable in the extreme. Burn is unavailable through injury anyway for the visit of Watford.

Brighton have few options at left back. The club is still rumoured to be chasing Spanish Olympic international Marc Cucurella from Getafe. Only time will tell if that deal comes off. If it does not, then it is one position the Albion look very light in.

This brings me back to transfers between arch rivals. Patrick van Aanholt was out of contract at Palace during the summer, has a wealth of experience in the Premier League and represents the Netherlands on the international stage – what Brighton are looking for, no?

How would Albion fans feel if we had signed a player from across the divide? What would the comments have been from south east London? Would Patrick van Aanholt have been interested to move further down the M23 to Brighton?

He surely would have enjoyed playing Albion’s progressive brand of football compared to the ‘flat back 10’ Old Woy employed during his time at the helm at Selhurst Park.

There have been a fair few players who played for both Albion and Palace, most notably Glenn Murray. I would say the wounds from his 2011 departure to Selhurst have long healed and there is clearly little animosity from Palace fans towards Murray for returning to Brighton.

Murray is adored amongst Albion fans and he has always received a good reception on his returns to Selhurst. Let’s be honest, football fans are fickle.

Rather than Brighton, Patrick van Aanholt moved this summer to Galatasaray. Perhaps he wanted to try a new league or preferred the Turkish sunshine.

Perhaps he felt he could not play for any Premier League club other than Palace. We will never know.

Could he have done a job for Albion, especially against wingers as dangerous as Sarr? I have no doubt.