Florin Andone joins Galatasary on loan
Well, who saw this one coming? Brighton have allowed striker Florin Andone to move to Turkish giants Galatasary on loan until the end of the season.
Andone had been involved in the first three games of the Graham Potter era, twice as a substitute and once from the start. He netted from the bench in the 3-0 win against Watford before getting himself sent off after less than half an hour of the defeat to Southampton on his first start of the campaign.
And while many Albion fans are scratching their heads at the decision to let another forward leave on loan, it’s that red card that explains exactly why Potter is happy to cut ties with Andone.
Whenever Potter talks about players, he mentions culture and the collective. He very much believes in having a squad of good team players who will work together, whether that be on the football pitch or performing Swan Lake as part of a cultural exercise.
Andone quite clearly doesn’t fit into that. You can’t be a good team player if you’re consistently letting your team mates down by getting suspended, whether that be for trying to snap Southampton’s Yan Valery in half or elbowing West Bromwich Albion’s Sam Field in the head.
The Romanian international has played 30 times for the Albion, scored six goals, picked up five yellows and missed six games through suspension. Potter has no doubt asked himself if he is worth the bother and the answer is an unequivocal no.
We’ve already seen how ruthless Potter can be when it comes to players with a questionable attitude. Anthony Knockaert and his petulance were sent packing to Fulham after just one friendly.
Jurgen Locadia – with so many questions about his work rate – has been farmed out to Hoffenheim. It will be interesting to see whether Shane Duffy regains his place in the side going forward given the frequent sightings of him in pubs across Brighton and Hove.
It’s hardly a surprise that Andone has followed Locadia and Knockaert out the door. What is interesting though is that the club are stressing they are able to recall him in January, suggesting that if we’re struggling for goals he may yet have a future at the Amex.
It’s also a huge vote in confidence in the ability of Aaron Connolly. All it takes is an injury or suspension or two to Neal Maupay and Glenn Murray and Connolly could find himself leading the line as a Premier League starter.
Many Brighton fans had gripes with Chris Hughton over his lack of faith in young players. Now, we’ve got a manager who is willing to put a massive amount of trust in a 19-year-old centre forward.
Given the way in which Potter turned Daniel James and Oliver McBurnie from Swansea City development squad members into top flight players worth millions of pounds, let’s hope he gets this one equally right.
Andone meanwhile will experience Champions League football with the Turkish champions. Intriguingly, he will come up against the Lion of Judah Percy Tau as Galatasary have drawn Club Brugge in the group stage of the competition.
Fingers crossed Andone doesn’t lose his mind again and cripple our future Ballon d’Or winner when the two meet. Much more preferable to him attempting to end opponent’s careers would be a lot of goals in Turkey so that the Albion can try and flog him on for some sort of profit on the £5.2m paid to Deportivo La Coruna last summer.
And here’s one final sobering thought for you – Andone was only that cheap because Depor got relegated. We nearly paid £15m for his services the previous summer, which would have been an astonishing amount – imagine a balance sheet showing £47m on him, Locadia and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
For all the talk about how Potter would improve Hughton’s ‘under performing’ players, it’s damning that the new boss has instead shipped out Locadia and Andone and Jahanbakhsh hasn’t played a single minute of league football so far.
With each departure, our transfer business over the course of 2018 is made to look worse and worse. Paul Winstanley must be a very lucky man to still be in a job as those two transfer windows are starting to look like David Burke levels of bad.
