Potter confirms Brighton are to release Ezequiel Schelotto

Graham Potter has confirmed that Ezequiel Schelotto has played his last game for Brighton with the Argentinian to be released when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Potter was speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the penultimate game of the campaign against Newcastle United. When asked about Schelotto, the Albion boss said that the right back would not feature in either the Newcastle match or the final fixture away at Burnley, bringing to an end his three-season spell at the Amex.

Schelotto had initially been out of contract in June. Both Schelotto and Beram Kayal signed one month extensions to keep them at the Albion until the campaign was completed.

Potter said at the time that those final nine games presented an opportunity for Schelotto to earn a new deal. Schelotto started the first game of the restart against Arsenal before being replaced by Martin Montoya with the Albion trailing 1-0 with 20 minutes left to play.

Brighton ended up beating Arsenal 2-1 and Schelotto has not been seen since. The sudden emergence of Tariq Lamptey as first choice right back has pushed him down the pecking order to the point where Potter no longer feels his services are required.

Ezequiel Schelotto arrived at Brighton for £2.5 million from Inter Milan on the final day of the summer 2017 transfer window. He has only played 33 times for the club, but it seems unlikely that any Albion fan will forget the man known as The Greyhound any time soon as he was quite the character.

When Schelotto played, he either looked like the greatest right back in the world or somebody who had never played football in his life. Boom or bust, there was no happy medium.

In January 2018, Schelotto was voted as our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month. Against Chelsea, he had been the best player on the pitch even though Brighton lost 4-0 and the Blues were packed with considerable talents including Eden Hazard, who ran the show.

A month before that, Schelotto had looked like a cart horse against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium. So funny were his efforts that Schelotto’s first 20 minutes in that game made it onto the ballot for Comedy Moment of the Season in our 2017-18 End of Season Awards.

Within three months of being Brighton’s best player in January, Schelotto had a complete nightmare as Brighton lost 3-2 at Crystal Palace.

His performance at Selhurst Park was so bad that in 90 minutes, he managed to convince Chris Hughton never to play him for Brighton again, barring another woeful display in the dead rubber away at Liverpool on the final day of the campaign.

Schelotto did not feature for a minute of Premier League football in the 2018-19 season, moving on-loan to Serie A side Chievo in January.

Fate was not about to be kind to him back in Italy as within a month, he suffered a career-threatening knee injury which required an operation to reconstruct his anterior cruciate ligament.

Not only did Schelotto battle back from that, but he forced his way into Potter’s plans when most assumed his Brighton career was over.

Schelotto has featured nine times this season and again his form has veered from the sublime to the ridiculous. Terrible in the 1-0 FA Cup third round exit against Sheffield Wednesday in January, he bounced back to win another Player of the Month Award in February for turning around the West Ham United game as a substitute and then having an impressive outing in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield United.

His character, his unpredictability and the fact he looks like Jesus Christ all should have secured Ezequiel Schelotto endearing popularity among Brighton supporters.

But he guaranteed his place in our hearts though through a fantastic spat with Wilfried Zaha when Crystal Palace came to the Amex at the end of February 2020.

Not only did substitute Schelotto launch a ball at Zaha’a head ‘by accident’, he then mimed a crying gesture at Palace’s golden boy. Zaha reacted by sending all kinds of toys flying from his pram while looking like he was on the verge of tears.

Schelotto was booked for his troubles before he had even made it onto the pitch. It was easily the highlight of what was otherwise a very disappointing day.

As much of a personality as he was, releasing Schelotto is sadly the right decision. If Brighton want to do more than avoid relegation each season, then they need a better quality of player even as backup to Lamptey, who had already made such an impression.

Before Potter confirmed the news, Schelotto told an Italian news outlet about his impending departure “I expected more gratitude, but we leave each other well.”

Indeed, we do. Wherever Schelotto ends up next – Italy seems the most likely destination – we will keep a keen eye. It is sure to be entertaining.