Year as an Imp and Rushworth can stake his Brighton number one claim

The idea of Barcelona sending scouts to watch a goalkeeper playing in the seventh tier of English football sounds like something out of Roy of the Rovers. Unless you are Carl Rushworth, the latest promising young shot stopper to roll off the Brighton production line.

Rushworth had just completed a season long loan in League Two with Walsall. Whilst at the Banks Stadium, he has become a regular in the England Under 21 squad and picked up a Saddlers double of Players’ Player of the Season and Supporters’ Player of the Season. He was the Walsall version of Marc Cucurella in 2021-22.

Having been the best goalkeeper in the fourth tier last year, the next natural step in his progression is League One. Lincoln are the lucky club who have secured the services of Rushworth, a good move for all parties.

The Imps get themselves a number one who has piqued the interest of some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Rushworth has the opportunity to play every week in the third tier at a club whose fans set off an air raid siren home matches.

And Brighton will find out a little more about a goalkeeper with the ability to be their next number one in the not-too-distant future, possibly as soon as 2023-24.

It might seem farfetched to suggest that a 21-year-old goalkeeper can jump straight from League One with Lincoln to the Premier League with the Albion.

Brighton through rate Rushworth as one of the best players in their development setup. In January, he signed a new contract keeping him at the Amex until 2025 to end the hopes of Barcelona, Manchester United and others who all wanted to snare him from the Albion.

The interest from Barcelona partly explains why Rushworth is seen by many at the club as the Albion’s next first choice goalkeeper.

It was whilst he was on loan at Isthmian League Premier Division side Worthing during the 2019-20 season that Barcelona decided to take a look at him.

Then 18-years-old, Rushworth enjoyed an outstanding campaign at Woodside Road. It almost certainly have ended with promotion to National League South had the campaign not been declared null and void due to Covid-19.

Quite what Lionel Messi, Lionel Suarez, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquests and the rest of Rushworth’s other potential Barcelona teammates would have made of a new signing with Isthmian League title winner as the standout achievement on his CV is anyone’s guess.

Maybe they would have been impressed? After all, Messi has never done it on a cold rainy night away at Margate, has he?

Rushworth spent 2020-21 back with Brighton as the Under 23s number one, playing 18 times in Premier League 2 alongside three appearances in the Paint Pot.

Then came his first experience of the Football League at Walsall. Saddlers supporters soon realised they were watching a very special talent as Rushworth earned rave reviews for excelling in every area of the game.

Not only is he capable of producing outrageous saves and dominating his box, but he is excellent with the ball at his feet.

It is ultimately Rushworth’s distribution and playmaking ability that first attracted Barcelona – a club who know a thing or too about passing out from the back.

In that regard, Rushworth is similar to Robert Sanchez. And it is the career path of Sanchez which bodes well for Rushworth potentially making the jump to Premier League goalkeeper quicker than a lot of people might expect.

Cast your minds back to December 2020. Graham Potter not only dropped the experienced Maty Ryan with Brighton teetering perilously close to the Premier League relegation zone, but told him to find a new club.

Ryan’s place was taken by Sanchez, a 23-year-old whose first team experience extended to a couple of non-descript loans with Forest Green Rovers and Rochdale.

Sanchez had certainly not set the world on fire in either League Two or League One, unlike Rushworth during his time with Walsall.

By the end of the season, the Seagulls had pulled miles clear of danger thanks to a much improved run of form. Two Premier League wins from the opening 18 games of the season transformed into seven from the final 20, a turnaround which coincided with Sanchez donning the gloves.

During that sequence of results, Sanchez kept clean sheets against the likes of Spurs and Liverpool. To cap a memorable six months, he then went to Euro 2020 with Spain.

His meteoric rise continued in 2021-22. He has been linked with a move to Leicester City in the current transfer window, although it seems unlikely that Brighton would sell their first choice goalkeeper in the same window as losing Yves Bissouma and potentially Marc Cucurella.

Sanchez might stay this summer, but it would not be a surprise to see him courted by one of the giants of European football if he continues his current rate of progress – perhaps as soon as next year.

Should that happen, then Rushworth could provide Brighton with a ready-made replacement who – whisper it quietly – could be even better than Sanchez. That is quite the prospect.

Rushworth is currently on the same pathway as Sanchez, Ben White, Steve Alzate and other young players from the Albion’s development squad.

All worked their way through loan spells at increasingly high levels of football to gain the experience necessary to crack the top flight.

League Two was completed last season. Rushworth can take League One by storm this season. After that, the Championship or Premier League awaits.

From Worthing to Walsall to Lincoln to Brighton and who knows, maybe one day he will get that move to Barcelona. Carl Rushworth – remember the name.