How Brighton are building a squad for Europa League football

Although the summer 2023 transfer window only opened three weeks ago, Brighton have been very busy. Four players are already through the door at the Amex and even if we believe just 25 percent of reports exploring potential targets, we should expect several more arrivals before the Premier League season gets underway.

This should not come as a surprise. The Albion not only need to improve the quality of their squad to continue their progress under Roberto De Zerbi, but they need greater depth too to navigate the challenges of playing in the Europa League for the first time.

Here is where Brighton stand in terms of signings made, rumoured recruits and the areas that seem likely to require reinforcements over the next eight weeks.

Goalkeepers
The Albion’s latest summer signing is 20-year-old Dutch goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, brought in from Anderlecht for £16 million on a five-year contract.

De Zerbi said on the club website: “I am very pleased to have signed Bart. He is used to playing a type of football similar to ours and he will have no problem fitting into our group. He has the potential to become a very important player for the club in the coming years.”

Verbruggen signing would seem to increase the chances of both Robert Sanchez and Kjell Scherpen leaving the club. There are conflicting reports as to whether Chelsea retain an interest in Sanchez.

Brighton have confirmed that number three goalkeeper Tom McGill has signed a contract extension to 2025, with the option of an additional year.

Meanwhile 18-year-old James Beadle – fresh from representing England at the U20 World Cup – will spend the 2023-24 season on loan at League One Oxford United. Earlier this year, Beadle signed a contract keeping him with Brighton until 2026.

Two young goalkeepers in Toby Bull and Fynn Talley have been released and expectations remain that Carl Rushworth will follow Beadle out on loan, his most likely destination being a Championship club.

Full backs
James Milner has joined Brighton on a one-year deal with a year’s option following his Liverpool contract expiring on 30 June.

Whilst most of his career has been spent in midfield, in the last two years he has spent as much time playing at both left back and right back as in the middle of the park.

Recent reports have indicated that Brighton are looking to sign 23-year-old left sided Ajax defender Calvin Bassey. The Albion first tried to sign Bassey from Rangers before his transfer to Ajax 12 months ago. Previously, Brighton were said to be interested in 22-year-old Slavia Prague left back David Jurasek.

Tariq Lamptey continues to be linked with a move to Sporting Lisbon. The Portuguese club are seemingly someway short of offering a sum which would convince the Albion to either sell or loan Lamptey.

With Lamptey’s future unclear, Brighton in turn have been linked with a number of right backs. The strongest rumours centre around Tino Livramento, Timothy Castagne and Sacha Boey.

Newcastle United appear to be leading the way to sign Livramento from Southampton, although the youngster has doubts about how much first team football he will play at St James’ Park.

As for 27-year-old Leicester City defender Castagne, 22-year-old Galatasary right back Boey and 20-year-old Ajax defender Devyne Rensch, Arsenal have also been linked with all three players.

One report has listed Brighton as one of a number of clubs interested in 19-year-old Motherwell right wing back Max Johnston, although that would presumably be a development squad signing.

Central defenders
Signing Bassey from Ajax would give the Albion cover at both left back and for the left sided central defender role. Levi Colwill had clearly been Brighton’s first target, but Chelsea remain insistent he is not for sale.

Before being linked to Bassey, the Albion had been rumoured to have interest in 27-year-old Shakhtar Donetsk defender Mykola Matviyenko and 19-year-old Sao Paulo defender Lucas Beraldo. Either would be seen as a replacement for Colwill.

Jan Paul Van Hecke has confirmed the club have exercised their option to extend his contract for a further year. Positive reports have indicated that Van Hecke is expected to sign a new, longer deal beyond the automatic extension to 2024.

Ed Turns has been rewarded for a successful loan at League Two champions Leyton Orient with a new contract through to 2025. The Albion have an option for another year on top of that. Turns is likely to head out on loan again to continue his development.

Brighton have reportedly agreed a deal for 16-year-old Celtic centre back Ronan Ferns. Four academy defenders have departed; Haydon Roberts to Bristol City on a free and Antef Tsoungui for an undisclosed fee to Dutch champions Feyenoord. Sam Packham and Casey Shann have been released.

Midfield
The Albion thankfully managed to avoid a long and drawn out transfer saga when it came to Alexis Mac Allister, his £35 million move to Liverpool being confirmed when the window opened.

Talk about the future of Moises Caicedo continues to rumble on, however. Of the clubs Caicedo has been linked with, Manchester United are close to buying Mason Mount and Arsenal look set to smash their transfer record for Declan Rice. That would appear to leave Chelsea the favourites to secure Caicedo.

Coming into the Albion midfield, Brighton have secured both Milner and 27-year-old Mahmoud Dahoud from Borussia Dortmund.

Speaking to the Albion website, technical director David Weir has reported that both Steve Alzate and Simon Adringa are expected to be part of De Zerbi’s first team squad having spent the previous campaign on loan in Belgium.

“Steven and Simon had great seasons last season. They both went on loan to a really competitive league. They both played lots of minutes,” said Weir.

“They both had a really positive impact in terms of how they played. To see that, it makes it clear to us we have got to give them the opportunity to come back in and we think they are capable of affecting our group this year.”

Brighton continue to be linked with numerous midfield players and number 10s. The strongest rumours surround 22-year-old Ajax forward Mohammed Kudus.

A number of other clubs have been linked with Kudus and if he were to move to the Albion, it would almost certainly require a new club record fee exceeding the £30 million paid to Watford for Joao Pedro.

21-year-old Manchester City winger Cole Palmer would appear to be an option on a season long loan, suggesting that the “Brighton do not do loans” mantra may need to be permanently put to one side thanks to the success of Colwill’s year at the Amex.

At the younger end, Brighton have been linked with 17-year-old Hamilton Academical midfielder Ryan One, 17-year-old Udinese youngster Simone Pafundi and 18-year-old Fenerbache star Arda Guler. The expectation is that Guler is more likely to end up in Spain with Barcelona or Real Madrid.

One thing to consider when reviewing all these young players Brighton are reportedly interested in is that they cannot possibly be considering signing all of them.

The Albion’s reputation in identifying diamonds invariably means that almost any player anywhere in the world tipped for greatness is now rumoured to be on Brighton’s radar.

In no particular order, these currently include Teun Koopmeiners, Maxime Lopez, Arthur Melo, Orkun Kökcü, Conor Gallacher, Carlos Alcaraz, Malik Tillman, Alex Scott, Marcelino Nunez, Davide Frattesi, Denis Zakaria and Reo Hatate.

Three development squad midfielders have left Brighton permanently. QPR have signed Taylor Richards, Teddy Jenks has joined Forest Green Rovers and Jack Spong is north of the border with Scottish side Queens Park.

Forwards
The Albion completed the aforementioned signing of the exciting Pedro from Watford before the transfer window opened. In addition, Jeremy Sarmiento has signed a new contract through to 2027 with a further year option.

There have been fewer links with forwards than midfield players, but rumours have associated the club with 19-year-old Juventus winger Samuel Iling-Junior, Toulouse winger Zakaria Aboukhlal and Feyenoord’s Santiago Giménez. Both Kudus and Palmer could also cover forward positions.

The prize for the most ridiculous link of the transfer window so far were those reports saying Brighton were attempting to sign Jadon Sancho from Manchester United. Sancho would just need to take an 80 percent pay cut.

Rangers have completed the signing of Abdallah Sima on a year long loan, significantly without an option to buy. This suggests the Albion view him as a first team option for 2024-25.

Andi Zeqiri did have an option to buy in his loan move to Basel but with the Swiss side unable to afford the specified fee and Brighton not willing to budge on their asking price, it now looks like he will get a chance to impress De Zerbi in pre-season.

Brighton and Newcastle have been reported to be in talks to sign 16-year-old Rochdale forward Igor Tyjon whilst the Albion’s released list from the academy included a number of forwards. Todd Miller, Lorent Tolaj, Billie Clark, Mathew Everitt and Ben Wilson have all left the club.

Peter Finn