Will Stefanos Tzimas solve Brighton’s goalscoring issues?

English Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion are currently mid-table with 14 games left to play before the end of the current campaign.

They are struggling to score goals at home and must start scoring and winning more games if they want to finish in the top 10.

The question being asked here is whether a new arrival signed for next season, 19-year-old Greek forward Stefanos Tzimas, will be the right player to solve EPL side Brighton’s goalscoring issues in the 2025-26 campaign? Let’s dive straight in to find out.

Who is Stefanos Tzimas, and is he the right man to turn Brighton’s fortunes around?

Stefanos Tzimas is a 19-year-old men’s professional footballer who Brighton have just signed from Bundesliga 2 side FC Nurnberg.

He joined The Seagulls on February 3 at the end of the transfer window but was loaned straight back to Nurnberg.

Brighton secured the wonderkid’s services for a reported fee of €25 million (£20.8 million) on a five-year deal.

Whether he can be the right player to turn Brighton’s fortunes around remains to be seen, and everyone will be keeping a close eye on him to see what he can do next season.

The Greek U21 international started his professional career at Greek Super League side PAOK, where he scored 4 goals in 20 appearances during the 2023/24 season.

He had an incredible spell while on loan at FC Nürnberg, scoring 10 goals in 17 appearances, which caught the attention of Brighton, and according to reports, he chose Brighton over Liverpool, who were also interested in signing him.

Can Brighton finish in the top 10 with Tzimas?

The best way to determine if Brighton can finish in the top 10 is to see what the iGaming industry’s most trusted online bookmakers, such as the official 10bet Sports Betting website, are currently offering for this particular market.

As it stands, here are the latest odds for Brighton to finish in the top 10, top 6, or top 4 this season:

• Bet type: 2024/25 EPL season finishing position. Team: Brighton. Top 10 finish: 2/5 (fractional odds), 1.4 (decimal odds), Implied probability rate: 71.40%

• Bet type: 2024/25 EPL season finishing position. Team: Brighton. Top 6 finish: 10/1 (fractional odds), 11.00 (decimal odds). IPR: 9.10%

• Bet type: 2024/25 EPL season finishing position. Team: Brighton. Top 4 finish: 100/1 (fractional odds), 101.00 (decimal odds). IPR: 1.00

In other words, it looks likely that they will secure a top-10 finish this season even without Tzimas, but anything can happen in football, meaning that no bets are ever guaranteed.

A far more likely bet would be for Brighton to finish in the top 10, not the top 6 or top 4.

Current form and upcoming fixtures

Brighton have played 24 games, won 8, drawn 10, and lost 6, and during that time, they have scored 35 goals (GF) and conceded 38 (GA), which gives them a -3 goal difference (GD) and 34 points.

They had a huge wake-up call on Saturday, February 1, when they lost 7-0 away to Nottingham Forest, and they also lost 1-0 at home to Everton the week before.

However, on January 19, they beat Manchester United 3-1 away at Old Trafford and beat Ipswich Town 2-0 away at Portman Road the week before.

Their next game is against Chelsea in the fourth round of the FA Cup in an 8 PM kick-off, and then they face them again on February 14, this time in a league fixture at home.

Their next Premier League away game is on February 22, away to Southampton, before more upcoming fixtures against Bournemouth (away), Fulham (home), Manchester City (away), and Aston Villa (at home), to name just a few fixtures.

Until Tzimas arrives next season, some of Brighton’s forward options are Danny Welbeck, Joao Pedro, Yankuba Minteh and Simon Adingra. Midfielder Kaoru Mitoma is also someone Brighton can rely on to score goals.

However, Welbeck, Brighton’s leading goalscorer, has only scored 6 goals so far this season, followed by Mitoma and Pedro (both with 5 goals), Georginio Rutter with 4, and Yankuba Minteh with 3.

Final thoughts

It will be interesting to see how Tzimas fits into the Brighton squad and whether he will settle in early once he arrives to start scoring those all-important goals that Brighton needs.

The worst-case scenario is them slipping down into the relegation zone with Tzimas this season, and the best-case scenario is that they will finish in seventh or sixth.

If they can finish in fifth place, they will qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage for next season.

Finally, if you decide to place a wager on any upcoming EPL matches and you live in South Africa, remember to stick to betting on legally permitted online sportsbooks like 10bet, which is fully licensed and regulated by the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator (MER), and has excellent reviews on the iGaming industry’s most trusted review sites.