Rohan Ince released by Brighton and Hove Albion
Rohan Ince has become the fourth and final out of contract Brighton and Hove Albion player to be released by the club at the end of the 2017-18 season.
The midfielder, nicknamed the Python for reasons we couldn’t possibly divulge on such a family friendly website, joins Steve Sidwell and Liam Rosenior in being informed his contract will not be renewed.
Ince arrived from Chelsea in February 2013 on an 18 month development squad contract but within six months he had been fast tracked into the first team by new manager Oscar Garcia following an injury to Liam Bridcutt.
Ince’s impact over the following months was such that Bridcutt’s forcing through of a move to Sunderland in the January transfer window was granted with a shrug of the shoulders, something that would have been unthinkable in the summer given Bridcutt was a back-to-back winner of Player of the Year awards in the previous two seasons.
Yet here we were thinking £3m for a player who didn’t want to be here was a great bit of business when we had a ready made – and potentially better – 20-year-old replacement. Ince finished the season strongly, going onto claim the Albion’s Young Player of the Season award for 2013-14.
He began the following season under Sami Hyypia well, scoring the Goal of the Season away at Swindon Town in the League Cup when smashing an Adrian Colunga cross into the top corner on the volley from outside the box, followed by a Ryan Giggs-esque shirt swinging around the head celebration.
It was pretty much downhill from there though for Ince as in a struggling team he struggled more than most, firstly under Hyypia and then Chris Hughton as the Albion limped to Championship safety.
The form of Beram Kayal and Dale Stephens meant he was restricted to largely substitute appearances and cup games from the start of the 2015/16 onwards, with loan spells following over the next two and a half seasons with Fulham, Swindon and Bury.
If Ince can rediscover the form that marked him out as such a prospect when he first burst onto the scene, then there should be no shortage of offers from the bottom two divisions for his services. He made a grand total of 92 appearances for the Albion, scoring four times.
