Knockaert was never likely to be a Potter player
Anthony Knockaert to Fulham looks as though it as all but a done deal. While we are yet to find out the details – loan or permanent, how much the fee is – the fact that Knockaert has undergone a medical with the Cottagers tells you everything you need to know about his Brighton future.
We wrote last week that selling Knockaert at this point in time represents a significant gamble for Graham Potter. That hasn’t changed.
It’s a decision loaded with risk, even if the days of two out-and-out wingers in a 4-4-1-1 formation look to be at an end.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Jurgen Locadia are yet to show anywhere near the required quality to be Premier League players.
Jose Izquierdo has undergone a second operation on his knee and nobody knows how that will impact on his ability. Leandro Trossard looks a good signing on paper but there are no guarantees that he will be a success in England.
That leaves a lot of pressure on Solly March. If Knockaert was going to go, then selling him in January would have been eminently more sensible.
There would be more certainty over Izquierdo and Trossard at that point in time. Potter would have also had six months to try and extract something from Jahanbakhsh and Locadia .
So why are we getting rid now? The truth is that Knockaert was never likely to be a Potter player. For however much Albion fans love Knockaert and for all the brilliant moments he has delivered in the stripes, there is no denying that at times his attitude and petulance lets him down. He isn’t always a team player.
He wants to be the star man, the main attraction, the hero. In the Championship where he is so much better than anyone else at that level, that’s not a problem. The awards, the accolades and the adulation flow.
In the Premier League, that isn’t the case. He is just another winger playing for struggling Brighton, a side who will lose more often than they win. That is what leads to his petulance.
The stupid red cards don’t help. Everton away saw him try and end the career of Leighton Baines because a ball had accidentally hit him in the face a few moments earlier.
Bournemouth at home saw him gift the Cherries possession for their second goal before taking his frustration out on Adam Smith by attempting to snap Smith’s leg into two.
Then there are the tantrums. Knockaert would constantly throw his toys out the pram when he didn’t agree with being substituted. He was rumoured to have been dropped from the matchday squad for games against Huddersfield Town and Chelsea in 2017-18 because of his attitude.
There is a feeling that Chris Hughton was extra lenient with Knockaert because of how much of the Albion’s promotion to the Premier League depended on the Little French Magician.
Knockaert had so much credit in the bank that Hughton could turn a blind eye to the tantrums and the stupid red cards. After all, without Knockaert would we even be in the Premier League?
With Potter, the slate is clean. There are no past exploits for Knockaert to fall back on. Even more problematic for the winger is the fact that Potter believes very much in the collective, valuing the team over individuals.
At Ostersunds, he famously got his squad to put on a performance of Swan Lake for supporters. There was also a gala of solidarity with refugees in which Potter himself opened proceedings by singing the Lapland national anthem in a local dialect.
The thinking behind it is that if a team can perform a ballet miles outside their comfort zone in front of hundreds of their own supporters, then the pressure they feel from playing football inside their comfort zone should decrease.
Swan Lane was also all about teamwork. In order for the production to be a success, everyone at Ostersunds had to pull together to perform, highlighting the importance of teamwork and strengthening the spirit among the group.
It isn’t hard to see why a manager who places so much faith in teamwork might not like the look of a bloke who regularly throws his toys out the pram, loves being the centre of attention and has two red cards in just over a year to his name born out of sheer idiocy.
Knockaert was always likely to be one of the more vulnerable players to any managerial change, given how liked he was by Hughton and how much he was able to get away with.
Nobody could have predicted he would be shipped out within a month though. Getting rid represents a big gamble for Potter, but when you look at the ethos that has underpinned all his managerial success so far, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.
