Lamptey signing shows Brighton a new way of doing transfer business
Since signing for Brighton & Hove Albion from Chelsea in January, Tariq Lamptey has been a bit good, hasn’t he?
The teenager was the Albion’s best player in the 0-0 draw at Leicester City, the 1-0 win at Norwich City and the 3-1 home defeat against Liverpool.
In fact, the only game in which Tariq Lamptey has started for Brighton and not been man-of-the-match since signing was against Manchester United – and that was through no fault of his own as he became a victim of Graham Potter’s team selection roulette wheel, starting the game on the right wing.
Three full appearances in his natural right back position, three quality showings. On the evidence so far, the Albion may have very talented player on their hands. Dare we say, perhaps even a future England international?
With each game that Lamptey plays in a Brighton shirt, his former club Chelsea get mocked mercilessly by Albion supporters for “letting him go” for around £4 million.
People question how Frank Lampard and the powers that be at Stamford Bridge could happily sell Lamptey when it seems fairly obvious that he has the ability to go right to the very top of the game.
Except Chelsea did not want Lamptey to leave. It was Lamptey himself who refused to sign a new deal with the Blues, forcing his former club’s hand – they either had to sell him in January or watch him walk out on a free when his contract expired at the end of the season.
Lamptey could see César Azpilicueta and Reece James ahead of him in the Chelsea pecking order and decided that his future would be better served by seeking first team football elsewhere.
Upon signing for Brighton, Tariq Lamptey explained his decision to leave Chelsea by saying that the Albion offered a better platform for his career.
“It was a really tough decision to leave as I’ve been at Chelsea since the age of seven and seen it all the way to the under-23s, and then the first team,” said Lamptey.
“It was a proud moment when I made my Premier League debut, but I felt that it was the right time to start a new chapter and come to this brilliant club.”
Call it the Jadon Sancho effect. More and more young English players have seen Sancho blaze a trail by leaving the comforts of Manchester City to seek first team football with Bourussia Dortmund.
Rather than sitting on the bench or in the stands behind a raft of talent at the Ethihad, Sancho took the brave move to go to Germany in search of senior football.
As a result, he is now one of the hottest properties in world football, a full England international and could be about to cost Manchester United £130 million. None of that would have happened if he stayed at City.
Lamptey had initially looked set to follow in Sancho’s footsteps with a move abroad. According to reports, he was close to signing a pre-contract agreement with Ligue 1 side Lille, as any player in England can do with any European club once they enter the final six months of their deal.
Brighton swooped in at the last minute however, offering Chelsea a fee of around £4 million rising to £6 million for the signing of Tariq Lamptey.
It was a good deal for all concerned; the Blues at least got some money for their player, Lamptey could stay in England with a top flight club who would give him a shot at first team football and Brighton got a very good young player at what looks like being a bargain price.
The Lamptey deal also provides Brighton with a blueprint for transfer business going forward. Thanks to Sancho, there are other young players in the academies of England’s biggest clubs who will be more willing to move to a smaller team to play senior football and get their careers up and running.
Graham Potter has shown that he is not adverse to giving young players a chance. A starlet looking for a transfer for first team football lower down the Premier League will see the opportunities afforded to Lamptey, Steve Alzate and Aaron Connolly and know that if they sign for Brighton, they will be joining a club who are not afraid to blood young talent.
There is also the presence of Dan Ashwoth as Technical Director at the Amex. Ashworth previously worked at the Football Association, where his England DNA project is credited with the transformation of the England set up into a coherent unit with a clear pathway for talent to emerge across the age groups.
While England DNA may sound like technical bollocks straight from the mouth of David Brent, it has proven extremely successful. England won an Under 17 World Cup, an Under 18 Toulon Tournament, an Under 19 European Championships and an Under 20 World Cup during Ashworth’s time at Wembley.
There were also semi final appearances for the Under 21s in a European Championships, the senior team at the World Cup in Russia and the Lionesses’ third place finish in their 2015 World Cup.
Brighton have suddenly gone from a club where youth hardly got a chance under Chris Hughton to one which is geared up and willing to offer young players every opportunity to play, providing they are good enough.
For a 19-year-old who is struggling to make the bench at the Chelseas, Manchester Citys and Arsenals of this world, that suddenly makes Brighton an attractive proposition.
Given the success of Lamptey so far, the Albion would be mad not to pursue more of these type of player. Brighton’s transfer policy as a Premier League club so far has largely been to look to abroad – normally the Dutch or Belgian leagues – for imports who the club feel could handle the step up to the Premier League.
The results have been mixed. For every Davy Propper or Leandro Trossard, there is a Jurgen Locadia and an Alireza Jahanbakhsh. The issue with bringing in signings from abroad is unless you spend massive amounts of money, there are no guarantees as to how they will take to English football.
Imagine a world instead where Brighton were offering the best young players in the country the chance to come to the Amex and play first team football?
Ashworth and Head of Recruitment Paul Winstanley could scour the Under 23 teams of the big six, identify players with less than a year left on their contracts and swoop in to offer them a better chance at senior football.
What would make this approach to transfer business even more appealing to Tony Bloom is that it should guarantee significant returns on investments.
If Lamptey keeps playing the way he is, then in a couple of seasons one of the big clubs will come in for him and Bloom will be looking at a huge profit on the £4 million plus add ons he originally paid.
Compare that to Locadia, signed for £14 million and who Brighton are set to make a £10 million loss on should he complete a permanent move to FC Cincinnati. If Jahanbakhsh is sold, as looks likely this summer, he too will fetch nowhere near the £17 million he cost to bring in.
Signing Tariq Lamptey has proven to be a bargain bit of business for Brighton and there are many more like him out there.
Convince those sorts of players to come to the Albion for greater opportunities to further their careers, supplementing the promising talents already at the club such as Ben White, Jayson Molumby and Haydon Roberts – who it is all hoped will make a big impression on the first team – and the Albion could become one of the most exciting young teams in England to watch.
Where Lamptey has gone, fingers crossed that more will follow.
