Should Brighton recall Florin Andone from his Galatasaray loan?

Florin Andone, remember him? The bloke who was last seen in Brighton colours launching into a horrific, unprovoked lunge which could have broken Southampton’s Yan Valery’s leg at the Amex back in August.

That little incident looked like it had spelt the end of the Romanian forward’s Albion career. Within a week, Florin Andone Brighton striker had become Florin Andone Galatasaray striker as Graham Potter sent a player with a questionable attitude out on loan to Turkey’s Super Lig.

To compound matters further, a few months after his move to Galatasaray, Andone gave a quite sensational interview to Andy Naylor and The Athletic in which he appeared to completely burn his bridges with the Albion.

In it, he said he didn’t want to return to the Amex. He blamed Chris Hughton for not playing him enough, despite the fact that every time he got a run of games he’d either get injured or suspended.

He took a swipe at Glenn Murray, questioning why Brighton’s top scorer of the past three seasons wasn’t dropped to make way for him.

He was condescending towards Jurgen Locadia, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Martin Montoya and Bernardo by questioning why they all got more chances than he did.

And most ridiculous of all, he tried to claim that his red card against Southampton – yes, the one where he tried to ensure that Valery left the Amex in an ambulance – was unlucky.

It’s an accepted fact that Andone wasn’t popular with his teammates. Before the Southampton game, there was that infamous footage recorded of Bernardo booting him as the players wandered across the pitch towards the changing room.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. At one point during training in the 2018-19 season, he put a ridiculous challenge in on Murray which injured our top scorer and drew ire from the rest of the squad.

The Daily Telegraph‘s Paul Hayward even tweeted after Andone’s loan to Galatasaray was confirmed that the striker’s leaving party could be held in a phone box because so few people would care about him going.

And yet here we are, four months on from Andone’s move to Turkey with some Brighton fans publicly stating that Potter should bring him back to England and reinstate him in the the Albion starting line up. How has it come to this – and more pertinently, should Potter recall him?

As far as we are aware, the option to do so does exist. When Andone completed his move to Galatasaray, the Albion were very keen to publicly state that the option was there to summon him back to Sussex in January if necessary.

Presumably, this clause was inserted into his loan deal for three reasons. Reason one – he might have managed to go four months without a suspension, indicating that he could calm his hot headed temperament.

Reason two – he may have taken Super Lig by storm and been firing Galatasaray to a successful title defence. Or reason three – Brighton might have struggled so much for firepower in the first half of the Premier League season that they would be desperate for anybody to come in and boost a flagging attack.

In reality, only one of those things has happened – an improvement in his discipline record. In nine appearances for Galatasaray, Florin Andone picked up only one yellow card. Which probably represents a career best run of discipline.

With regards to the other two points, the goals haven’t flowed for the Romanian in Turkey. Florin Andone has scored only twice in Galatasaray colours and both of those came in the same game against Sivasspor.

The Yellow-Reds seem certain to surrender their championship come the end of the campaign too, as they currently sit seventh at the midway point, some 10 points off top spot.

Andone’s spell with Galatasaray hasn’t been helped by a ruptured MCL picked up in a 2-0 win over Gaziantep at the start of November. Turkish media originally reported that he’d be out for the season, but the injury wasn’t quite as severe as first thought, meaning that Andone could potentially return anytime between now and the end of the season.

The big question then is where does he make his return? Andone himself doesn’t seem to know. He sent out a tweet over the weekend which translated to “In two weeks time, maybe I’ll be in Brighton, maybe in Galatasaray.” Quite the turnaround for someone who didn’t want to return to the Amex in September.

Florin Andone: "İki hafta içinde belki Galatasaray'da, belki de Brighton'da olacağım. Eğer Brighton'da beni tekrar kadroda görmek isterlerse, istedikleri zaman oraya dönerim." pic.twitter.com/O2gYagpoqV

— DW TRANSFER (@dwtransfer) January 12, 2020

Brighton have played some very good football so far this season under Potter without being clinical enough to make it count. Could Andone solve the problem by offering something more than Brighton’s three current front line strikers do?

Neal Maupay’s return of seven goals since stepping up from the Championship is decent – and, lest we forget, a bigger total in half a season than Andone managed in a full Premier League campaign.

Aaron Connolly has shown glimpses of promise. He may not have scored since marking his full debut with a sensational brace against Tottenham Hotspur at the start of October, but he still looks to be a player of real potential who will only get better the more he plays.

Glenn Murray looked like he still has something to give if his 20 minutes in the 1-0 defeat against Everton on Saturday was anything to go by – presuming he gets the crosses into the box upon which he thrives.

Andone’s Brighton record meanwhile reads 30 appearances, six goals, five yellows and six games missed through suspension. That he has spent as many games sat in the stands through his own stupidity as he has managed goals for the Albion tells its own story.

Andone might be a half decent footballer and he might even weigh in with a few goals here and there. But is playing him really worth the risk of potentially finishing a game with only 10 men?

We saw against Southampton what a liability he is. Had we had 11 players on the pitch for more than 30 minutes that day, then we’d almost certainly have beaten a very poor Saints side instead of losing 2-0.

We saw him booked for a horror challenge after 11 minutes of April’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle United, with Hughton having to haul him at half time to prevent him getting sent off.

And he was lucky to get away with only a three match retrospective ban for an off-the-ball elbow into the head of Sam Field during the FA Cup Fourth Round replay against West Bromwich Albion.

Potter clearly decided after the Southampton game that Andone’s recklessness wasn’t worth the bother. A 20, 15 or even 10 goal a season striker might get away with being a head case; Andone’s limited ability certainly doesn’t warrant the problems that come with it.

If Florin Andone is the answer, then God knows what the question is – but it certainly isn’t anything to do with a striker who will improve Potter’s Brighton side – and that is why he should remain at Galatasaray.