Deniz Undav departure to Stuttgart divides Brighton fans

In this day and age of Twitter, Instagram, greedy agents and client journalists, not many transfers happen out of the blue. Deniz Undav leaving Brighton for Stuttgart bucks that trend, the German striker’s return to the fatherland coming as something of a surprise.

Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri got the scoop ahead of Fabrizio Romano or Andy Naylor on Friday night. A lot of Brighton fans assumed it was merely a rumour with little substance; letting Undav go when he had finally started scoring goals would be a move that made little sense.

But then Undav did not feature in the final game of the Premier League Summer Series in the United States. And as soon as the Seagulls landed back in Europe, he was off to Stuttgart to sign a one-year loan deal with an option to buy.

The decision to allow Deniz Undav to join Stuttgart has divided Brighton supporters. That does not really come as a surprise as Undav’s debut (and now potentially only) season in English football was one of two halves.

Actually, two halves is being generous. It was more a case of 30 games without doing much, eight games in April and May in which Undav looked fantastic.

Through his first eight months in England, Undav struggled with the difference in quality from the Belgian Jupiler League to the Premier League.

There was no shame in that. The step up is bigger than many people realise and having only cost Brighton £6 million, Undav was a cheap gamble.

If it worked out for him at the Albion, great. If not, at least he had not been subject to the monster fee and wages lavished on Alireza Jahanbakhsh and DJ Jurgen Locadia.

Undav’s cause initially was not helped by some personal problems and alleged home sickness which went beyond his infamous struggles to find a good kebab or sausage stockist in Sussex.

All of which meant that had Stuttgart come in for him during the January transfer window, his departure would have been met by a more muted reaction.

Something clicked for Undav entering the final month of the campaign, however. Like London buses, you wait 30 matches for him to score and then he plunders five in eight outings.

Undav was visibly happier and more confident, leading him to clinically finish most of the chances which came his way.

That form from the end of 2022-23 carried over into the Summer Series. Undav scored in the 4-3 defeat against Chelsea in Philadelphia via a delightful chip.

Now settled in England, scoring goals and capable of contributing in both the Premier League and Europe, Undav looked set to play a bigger role in 2023-24 at the Amex.

This explains the disappointment at his departure. It all seems a bit pointless to have invested a year of patient waiting in Undav to find his feet, only to then flog him when he finally does.

On the other side of the coin, the main argument for flogging Deniz Undav moving to Stuttgart stems largely from the question of how much game time would he actually get for Brighton in the coming campaign?

In Roberto De Zerbi’s 4-2-3-1 formation, there is room for only one centre forward. Part of the reason Undav struggled for minutes in 2022-23 was due to being behind Evan Ferguson and Danny Welbeck in the pecking order. His increased end-of-season opportunities came with Ferguson injured.

The club-record £30 million capture of Joao Pedro from Watford pushes Undav down to fourth choice. Simon Adingra played through the middle at times for Union Saint-Gilloise last season and Julio Enciso could potentially be used as a false nine.

Competition for places up front has not looked this strong since Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named had a strike force of Glenn Murray, Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood and Fran Sandaza to choose from.

It is unfortunate for Undav that his time at Brighton has coincided with the club’s greatest depth in attacking options for over a decade, playing under a manager who in the main starts with only one out-and-out central striker.

Had Undav been an Albion player when Chris Hughton was choosing between Murray, Tomer Hemed and Sam Baldock in the Premier League, he would have been a shoe-in for more regular football.

Likewise at that depressing time Neal Maupay and Aaron Connolly were the only options up top for Graham Potter due to Welbeck’s injury record,

Welbeck’s fitness has been brought up by Brighton fans as a reason why allowing Deniz Undav to join Stuttgart is a bad move.

This is something of a false flag operation. Welbeck missed only six Premier League games last season and he played in all five of the Albion’s matches in the FA Cup.

A combination of hamstring surgery in the autumn of 2021 and Brighton becoming much more adept at managing his game time means Welbeck’s injury prone tag is very much outdated.

Between rotation of Welbeck, Ferguson and Pedro, Undav would struggle to get a look-in at Brighton even with the Albion partaking in four competitions.

Undav is 27-years-old, an age when strikers tend to hit their peak. He needs to be playing regular first team football, not just for his career but also his happiness.

Stuttgart can offer him that, at the same time as bringing to an end any lingering homesickness Undav might still be feeling.

Have the Albion made the right decision? It is impossible to know at this moment in time and that is why the debate swirls.

The only thing we can say with any certainty is that it has bollocksed up our planned WAB feature of finding Undav the best kebab in Brighton & Hove.

Bad news for living off lamb shish for the next 10 months. Good news (probably) for the long-term financial future of the NHS.