Tariq Lamptey signs new Brighton contract through to 2025
A contract might not mean much in football these days, but nobody will care about that as Brighton & Hove Albion have confirmed that Tariq Lamptey has signed a new deal through to 2025.
In just a year at the Amex, the right back has already proven to be one of the best signings that Brighton have ever made. The Seagulls paid just £4 million for his services in January 2020 as Chelsea were forced to cash in on a player they would otherwise have lost on a free six months later.
Lamptey had refused to sign a new deal to stay at Stamford Bridge. Rather than be paid to sit on the bench behind César Azpilicueta and Reece James at one of England’s biggest club, he bravely decided to seek first team football elsewhere to kickstart his career.
It looked initially like that would be in France with Lille. Lamptey was set to sign a pre-contract agreement with the Ligue 1 outfit when the Albion sneakily highjacked the move, offering Chelsea a £4 million fee for their work in developing him and giving young Tariq the chance to avoid the ghastly prospect of a move to Lille.
Last time the WeAreBrighton.com team were in Lille on a European ground hopping trip in December 2014, someone threw up a blue slush puppy in the middle of a shopping centre. Not a place you want to be living.
Tariq Lamptey signed a three-and-a-half-year contract on his arrival at the Amex, keeping him at Brighton until 2023. His latest deal extends that by two years but more importantly, it will significantly increase his wages from a reported £14,000 a week.
There is no doubting that Lamptey is worthy of a place at the top of the Albion earnings list. Since making his debut in a 0-0 draw with Leicester City in June 2020, it has been very obvious that he is a cut above any other right back in the Premier League.
He has electric pace going forward and can deliver a wicked cross into the box. The only means that opposition defenders have come up with to stop Lamptey so far is by hacking him to the ground.
No game is more illustrative of that than when the Albion won 3-0 at Newcastle United in September. Lamptey was unplayable and had helped sew the game up for Brighton within an hour, at which point he had to be substituted to prevent him receiving too much of a kicking from the increasingly frustrated Newcastle defence.
His ability going forward is matched by what he does defensively. Lamptey is equally effective in a defensive sense, no matter whether he plays as a traditional right back or as a right wing back, where Potter has deployed him when fit in the 2020-21 season.
Lamptey’s speed and engine means that he can put in a goal saving tackle at one end and 20 seconds later, pop up in the opposition’s box to create a chance at the other.
Unsurprisingly, he has attracted serious attention from some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid had both taken an interest in Lamptey and Arsenal are said to want him as Hector Bellerin’s replacement should the Spaniard move to Barcelona at some point.
Most Brighton fans are realistic enough to admit that Lamptey is too good a player to spend years at the Amex. He is destined to win England caps, trophies, and play Champions League football which, barring an unlikely turn of events, he will not achieve with the Albion.
He is ambitious too, as shown by the fact that he was willing to turn down Chelsea and come to Brighton in the first place. Lamptey is a player who wants to reach the top as quickly as he possibly can.
The question is not will Brighton sell Lamptey – it is how much will they get for him? This new contract is great news for the Albion because it increases his value for when the time does come for him to move onto a Bayern, an Atletico or a Barcelona. Not Arsenal, obviously – Lamptey is too good for them.
Our only hope is that Brighton can hold onto Lamptey for long enough for supporters to witness him live. So far, he has only played in front of 2,000 Albion spectators.
It does not seem right that 30,000 packed into the Amex have not been brought to their feet by Lamptey terrorising opponents up and down the right flank. When he looks so exciting on television, we can only imagine what he is like to watch in real life.
