Young Viktor Gyökeres in action for Brighton against his future employer
IT WAS SAID Coventry City banked a club-record £17.5million with a further £3.5m in add-ons (and Albion earned a decent sell-on percentage too) when Viktor Gyökeres left the UK for Sporting Lisbon.
If Gyökeres was just warming up at Coventry, as I described in my previous blog post, he caught fire at Sporting, scoring an astonishing 43 goals in 50 games in his first season. And it got better in his second season, racking up 54 goals in 52 appearances.
ESPN asked Sporting legend and former Portugal centre-back Daniel Carriço for his assessment, and he said: “Gyökeres improved not only as a player, but Ruben (Amorim) has a lot of dynamics as a coach, wanting to play with the ball, and Gyökeres was like a new weapon for him.
“He was the biggest weapon against all the teams and Ruben loved to have him in his first XI. Amorim improved his game in all the ways, not only physically, but technically he improved a lot. He knows how to move and beat defenders.”
His near goal-a-game scoring exploits for Sporting helped them to back-to-back league titles and also the Portuguese Cup and after playing against Arsenal in the Champions League in 2024-25, Mikel Arteta swooped to sign him for the Gunners for a reported £63.5m.
“I just felt that it was the right club for me,” said Gyökeres. “When I was playing against Arsenal last season, I could really feel it was a very strong team and very difficult to play against. That made me choose Arsenal, and of course, all the history the club has and the massive fanbase.”
He was touched by the support he received from Arsenal fans before he’d even completed his move and said: “It’s been amazing to see all the support that they have already given me before I even arrived. That’s what it’s all about.
“It’s going to be very nice to see them in the stadiums as well. To be a part of this club and to score in this kit and with this badge in front of all the supporters, I can’t wait. It will be an amazing feeling.”
Although he scored three times in four matches in the early part of the season, the player faced a certain amount of criticism which he addressed in an exclusive interview with Patrick Davison of Sky Sports.
“You have to believe in yourself and keep going, no matter what happens – whether that’s on the pitch or outside,” he said. “I don’t think you have to take in what everyone around you says. You don’t have to listen to everything you hear.”
He’d got used to the scrutiny in Portugal and told Davison: “They live for football there as well. So, in one sense, it’s a bit similar but of course it’s much, much bigger here. They analyse everything you do. But that’s the way it is, there’s nothing wrong with that.
“Maybe it isn’t my no. 1 priority to read everything that’s being said or what people write. It’s just think about the things you can control and do those things right.
Gyökeres went on to top score with 21 goals across all competitions from 40 starts and 15 sub appearances as Arsenal won the Premier League title – their first for 23 years.
However, midway through the season, when the Swede had only scored six in 19 appearances across all competitions, Arteta faced questions about his big money signing.
“The level of attention on him hasn’t changed since when he signed to today,” Arteta told ESPN. “It is normal. Everybody was so excited to bring a nine into the club. We did it. We brought a player with an incredible goalscoring record who had to adapt to the league. He had no pre-season.
“The first few weeks were difficult because physically he wasn’t in his best state and he is a player who needs that like any other player in this league almost to perform at that level. Then he kicked on, he had a really good period and he got injured.
“Now, I saw a lot of positive things in the last two games that he’s done. We need to continue to tweak and understand him a little bit better in certain situations and he needs to do the same. But that’s about time and we have full support for him.”
The manager was confident better things were to come from the player and added: “You can imagine the global impact that you are going to have to deal with when you come to a big club and the expectation is as it is.
“But after you have to live it. Living it is always slightly different to your imagination. He is doing it with a lot of desire. His energy level, his commitment is absolutely top and we are all here to help him because we have all been here, we all need time, there are always moments where the strikers score more goals or less goals. We need to be there for him.”
As well as upping his club strike rate in the second half of the season, it was Gyökeres’ 89th-minute goal that sealed Sweden’s World Cup play-off victory over Poland in Stockholm in March.
Sweden boss Graham Potter was baffled that in spite of all the achievements, Gyökeres had still attracted flak in certain quarters.
Interviewed by Sky Sports ahead of the World Cup, he said: “The team have won the Premier League and got to the Champions League final, and he’s played most of those games, but he still gets the criticism.
“That’s the world we live in. But then you just look at him and you look at how much work he does and how he goes about his business. He’s an incredible character.”
Sweden didn’t cover themselves in glory at the World Cup, finishing third in their group and then being eliminated in a 3-0 defeat to France.
But Gyökeres got a goal and two assists as Sweden beat Tunisia 5-1 and he later told FIFA.com: “It can’t get much bigger than the World Cup. It’s incredible and I’m very proud.
“I think we have extremely talented players. With time, I think we’re going to be very, very good.”
Do Brighton have any regrets about letting Gyökeres go when they did?
Ever-diplomatic chief executive Barber told Sky Sports: “It depends on whether you say slipped through or progressed through. I would prefer to say progressed through.
“It’s always good when you spot a young talent, nurture them and you see them go on to even better things.”
Barber pointed out: “Viktor progressed exceptionally well – but he wanted to progress even further faster.
“At that time, we couldn’t guarantee him first-team football here. We were very happy to continue to loan Viktor so he could continue to progress.
“But I think it says a lot about Viktor himself that he wanted a more permanent base sooner. He eventually got that and the rest is history.”
JESSE LINGARD is now in his 30s and plying his trade in Brazil but Oscar Garcia’s Brighton gave the player invaluable experience in the second tier of English football before he became a Manchester United and England regular.
Lingard scored four times in 17 appearances in 2014 as the Seagulls reached the divisional play-off semi-finals which Derby County – Lingard’s next loan club – won over two legs.
He didn’t make as spectacular a debut for Brighton as he did for Birmingham earlier that (2013-14) season when he scored four times in a 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
But he did earn a controversial penalty at The New Den, when he was adjudged to have been fouled by Danny Shittu. Albion beat Millwall 1-0, Spaniard David Lopez scoring from the resultant spot kick. “It is shoulder to shoulder, if anything,” Millwall boss Ian Holloway later claimed. “I can’t say that there wasn’t enough contact because Danny is built like a proverbial.”
Recognised for his contribution in Albion colours
Lingard’s first goal for the Albion came in a dramatic 4-1 win at already-promoted Leicester City when he headed Stephen Ward’s cross past Kasper Schmeichel.
Having been on loan with the Foxes the previous season, he’d been getting a bit of stick from their supporters so he said: “I had to silence them a bit with my celebration. The goal had been coming and I was obviously pleased to score, especially with it being a header as well.”
Asked why he’d plumped for the loan at Brighton when other clubs were after him, Lingard told the matchday programme: “It’s a club that shares my philosophy on football and it’s very similar to how we play at United, so it was a move that suited me.”
For his part, Garcia described Lingard as “one of the most exciting young English strikers” and “a talent who has already shown he can play at Championship level”.
An extended feature on Lingard’s development appeared in the matchday programme for Albion’s game at Old Trafford in November 2017.
One of the coaches involved in his development, academy advisor Tony Whelan, said: “Jesse has had to be patient throughout his career. As a younger player, he was physically under-developed so he had to play a younger age group.
“That wasn’t easy, but he had the patience, intelligence and trust in the coaching staff to know that those decisions were made in his best interests, that we knew at some point he was going to grow. At some point, all that ability would be able to come out.
Lingard celebrates with Leonardo Ulloa
“He’s got a wonderful mindset, so his ability to come on and make an impact on the game is down to the fact he’s resilient, he has a wonderful mentality, and he is a great observer of the game. That comes out all the time in the way he deals with things. And on top of that, he has his excellent technical ability.”
Whelan added: “He’s only of slight build, so he’s developed great technical ability, good passing, dribbling, he’s a really good mover – very fluid, a wonderful mover – and he’s athletic without looking that athletic.”
The coach said: “You don’t get in our first-team squad without being a very accomplished player. He’s also playing for the national team fairly regularly. That’s testimony to Jesse’s abilities as an all-round footballer now.”
Coach Whelan summed up Lingard thus: “From the day he first walked into this football club at seven years of age, he always had a smile on his face. He’s always loved playing, always loved the game, always had wonderful enthusiasm, and in some ways he’s inspired the coaches with his love of the game and love of the ball.
“You never had to ask him to work hard, he was always running around, always energetic, always mischievous, and those are the qualities he brought.”
Having featured for England’s under 17s and under 21s, Lingard made his full England debut in October 2016 in a 2-0 win over Malta, he started five of England’s seven matches at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and over the course of five years won 32 caps for his country.
Double delight for Lingard v Andorra
He scored England’s first and third goals on his penultimate appearance, in a World Cup qualifying 4-0 win over Andorra in September 2021, and his last game for England was against the same country the following month in a 5-0 away win.
In an interview with the Albion matchday programme for Brighton’s home game with United in 2017-18, Lingard reflected on his loan spell with the Seagulls and said: “I wanted to go to the club because I knew they were a good club with a great stadium and great fans – it was the perfect club to go on loan to.”
He added: “The stadium, the staff, the fans, you could see the ambition of the club. I always knew that the club would make it into the Premier League. It was heading in that direction for a couple of seasons.”
Lingard went on as a sub (for Marouane Fellaini) in the 2017-18 season finale when Albion beat United 1-0 courtesy of a 58th-minute Pascal Gross goal. And he was a half-time replacement for Juan Mata when the following season began with the identical fixture, on that occasion the Seagulls once again the winners, 3-2, with Gross on the scoresheet from a penalty adding to goals from Glenn Murray and Shane Duffy; Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba (penalty) for United.
Although Lingard broke into the United first team under Louis Van Gaal and was a regular during Jose Mourinho’s reign, he fell out of favour with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and spent half the 2021-22 season on loan at West Ham.
He had an injury-wracked 2022-23 season at newly-promoted Nottingham Forest making 14 starts and six sub appearances under Steve Cooper and was one of five players released at the end of the campaign.
That spelled the end of his time in English football. He spent a month in the autumn training with Saudi Pro League side El-Attifaq, managed by Steven Gerrard at the time, and he played in a friendly and scored against Al Khaldiya, but a foreign player restriction meant he wasn’t eligible to play competitively and the following February he ventured to South Korea to play for FC Seoul in the country’s capital.
Seoul mate Lingard
His home debut attracted a crowd of 51,670 – setting a new K League attendance record – and having not played competitively for eight months he struggled at the start. His coach Kim Gi-Dong even publicly criticised him for “a lack of effort and physicality”.
In an interview with BBC Sport’s Sami Mokbel, Lingard spoke of coming to terms with playing in the humidity and dealing with a meniscus injury, and he said: “The tempo is high out here, the games are intense. At the start, I wasn’t fit, but once I found the rhythm I got used to it.”
Lingard said the move to the Far East had enabled him to enjoy his football again. “I’m out here to find peace. Happiness is peace at the end of the day. If you can find that, it doesn’t matter where you are.
He told Mokbel: “I’m still playing football and I’m enjoying myself. I still have many years of playing football ahead of me – I’m 32 but the stats don’t show that I’m 32.
“I can play for a long time. It has 100 per cent been the right choice. It was a fresh start, to get my happiness back playing football, that was the main thing.
“It’s been an amazing experience. Different cultures, the people are amazing, the city is amazing.
“I feel I’ve come on leaps and bounds mentally. I think the move has improved my outlook on life.”
Indeed, Lingard went on to establish himself as a key player for FC Seoul – making 66 appearances and contributing 18 goals – and was eventually made captain.
When he decided to call it a day in December 2025, he wrote on Instagram: “My time in South Korea has been unbelievable – the football, the atmosphere and the passion around this club have been top class.
“The love, support and the appreciation you have shown towards me for these last two years has been truly amazing. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity to play for such a massive club.”
FC Seoul said in a statement: “He generated an extraordinary level of public attention and emerged as a symbolic figure not only for the club but for the entire K League.”
In March 2026, he pitched up at top Brazilian league side SC Corinthians Paulista, where hehas been playing since.
VIKTOR GYÖKERES is certainly right up there in Brighton’s short list of ‘ones that got away’.
The striker left the Seagulls for Coventry in a £1m deal, went on to score almost a goal a game over two seasons for Sporting Lisbon, joined Arsenal for £63.5m in the summer of 2025, and played for Sweden at the 2026 World Cup finals.
His meteoric rise from Brighton ‘reject’ to one of Europe’s hottest strikers is a story that’s unsurprisingly been seized upon by various media outlets.
“Viktor, he was a young lad at the club and was he up to the level? Well, the manager (Chris Hughton) didn’t think he was up to the level,” former teammate Glenn Murray admitted when speaking with 10bet. “We were in a squad where we were in survival mode, and you couldn’t really bring lads in to develop them.
A rare Brighton first team outing for Gyökeres against Manchester United
“In all honesty, it was one of those situations where he made that hard decision to leave the Premier League and in hindsight, it was the right decision to leave.”
Murray added: “Did I see it coming what has happened? Probably not. It just shows what belief in yourself, other people’s belief and confidence can do for you.”
Born in Stockholm on 4 June 1998, Gyökeres was only five when he started playing football with IFK Aspudden-Tellus. He first drew the attention of football scouts after he had joined Stockholm-based club Brommapojkarna as a 16-year-old, initially as a winger.
“We saw that he had the abilities to be a No. 9 with his strength and breakthrough capacity and started to focus on those abilities,” Brommapojkarna scout David Eklund told ESPN. “He grew a lot and started to produce goals more and more regularly.”
He was also selected for Sweden’s national youth sides and he started to earn a ‘wonderkid’ tag. Some observers reckoned he was the country’s biggest attacking talent since Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Brighton agreed to sign him in September 2017 but he remained with Brommapojkarna until the end of their season, finishing in style with a hat-trick in his last game which earned the club promotion to the Allsvenskan as champions.
He arrived in Sussex in January 2018, initially linking up with the under-23s.
Ahead of the 2018-19 season, he saw action with the first team in pre-season friendlies, scoring the only goal of the game in a behind-closed-doors win over Nice at the French club’s training ground, going on for Murray on 34 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Swiss side St Gallen, replacing Solly March for the last 20 minutes of a 2-1 defeat to AFC Wimbledon and finally getting half an hour as sub for James Tilley in a 1-1 draw at Charlton.
That involvement led to him making his competitive first team debut in an inexperienced line-up that lost 1-0 at home to Southampton in the Carabao Cup. Fellow youngsters Ben Barclay and Will Collar also started and £17m (then) record signing Alireza Jahanbakhsh made his debut.
On as a sub at Bournemouth
January 2019 was a memorable month for Gyökeres: three days after going on as a late sub for Anthony Knockaert in Albion’s home FA Cup third round 3-1 win over Bournemouth, he made his full international debut for Sweden in a 1-0 defeat to Finland and on 11 January scored a goal in his country’s 2-2 draw with Iceland.
Gyökeres was then featured in the matchday programme for the home FA Cup fourth round 0-0 draw with West Brom, when he was again a sub. He started the replay at The Hawthorns when Albion won 3-1.
In the following round, he got on as a sub when replacing Jurgen Locadia in Albion’s 2-1 win over Derby County, although he wasn’t involved in the quarter or semi-final matches.
But with that small amount of first team involvement, and having scored seven times in 19 games for the under-23s, Gyökeres had done enough for Albion to offer him a new three-year contract.
On target from the penalty spot
After signing he said: “I like this club and it feels like they believe in me.
“I want to do my best to prove that I can do good things here. I moved to another country with another language, so of course it’s been different compared to Sweden, but I’ve settled in well.
“It’s been good to train with the first team and travel with them to away games this season – it’s been a great experience and hopefully there will be more of that in the future.
“Next season I want to do better than I’ve done this year. Of course, I’d like to play in the first team, but I’ve got to work hard in pre-season, see what happens and what is best for me.”
Alas, what happened next was the departure of Hughton and the arrival of Graham Potter (now Gyökeres’ manager with the Swedish national side).
Instead of continuing his development at Brighton, he was sent on a season-long loan to St Pauli (Fabian Hurzeler’s former side) in the second tier of the Bundesliga at the start of the 2019-20 season. He scored seven goals in 28 appearances in Germany before returning to the Albion.
When Gyökeres played his first game under Potter, it wasat an empty Amex because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He scored (above) playing as a lone striker as Brighton beat Portsmouth 4-0 in the Carabao Cup after which Potter said: “He has got attributes that are different. It’s not the easiest to play up front on his own. He kept going, he got his rewards at the end.”
Although he also played in the same competition’s 2-0 win over Preston North End and 3-0 defeat to Manchester United, the arrival of Danny Welbeck put another obstacle in the way of his first team opportunities and he was loaned out to Potter’s former club, Championship side Swansea City.
On making the move, Gyökeres admitted Potter and his assistants Billy Reid and Bjorn Hamberg had all recommended the move to south Wales. “I spoke to them a little bit as they had been here,” he told Swansea’s website. “They only had good things to say and that made me more comfortable to come here and play here.”
However, the loan was cut short after he’d made only three starts plus nine sub appearances and scored just one goal for Steve Cooper’s side, in an FA Cup third-round game at Stevenage.
He returned to Brighton but several things aligned that resulted in him joining Coventry City for the remainder of the season.
Chris Badlan, then head of recruitment for the Sky Blues, told ESPN: “Viktor is someone me and my chief scout at the time, Stuart Benthom, knew about when he was playing out in Sweden.
“As a scout, you need to know who the best 16/17-year-olds are who are playing on the continent. Brighton had signed him so we followed him in their under-23s, he then went to St. Pauli and we just kept tracking him like you always do.”
Coventry already had Albion’s Leo Østigård on loan and he convinced Gyökeres to join him and, as Badlan pointed out: “We had two or three centre-forwards injured at the same time so we could show him the opportunity. It all married up because he wanted to play and we needed a striker straight away.”
After scoring three times in 19 appearances, Gyökeres joined Coventry permanently in July 2021, reportedly for £1m, with manager Mark Robins saying: “Viktor is a talented striker with good power, pace and movement, and great potential. He showed a terrific attitude when he was with us on loan.
“He grew in confidence, and we hope that he will continue to show the same improvement and desire.”
According to Badlan, that summer Gyökeres spent his holiday time working hard on his conditioning. “He worked on his strengths. He was already a powerful runner but, all of a sudden, his shoulders, he got a bit more square, stronger in his core. It enabled him to roll defenders better.”
Badlan also reckoned much credit for the player’s development should go to former Manchester United forward Robins and his assistant Adi Viveash, who was used to nurturing talent having spent 10 years with Chelsea’s academy and under-23s.
“They polished the rough diamond that he was. They simplified his game. They worked with him in identifying his best attributes.
“Mark, being an ex-striker, helped Viktor understand his body, getting his positioning right, where to make runs, when to get the timing right.”
And it paid off big time. He began the season with nine goals in his first 11 games finished the season as top scorer with 18 goals and repeated the feat in 2022-23, finishing on 22 as City made it to the Championship play-off final but lost on penalties to Luton Town.
It was at Coventry where he began his distinctive goal celebration – covering half his face with interlocking fingers to resemble a mask a la Bane, the villain in 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises.
Reporter Andy Turner, who has covered Coventry for the Coventry Telegraph for more than 20 years, was asked his opinion of the player by several media outlets.
“In training, he was known to be a little bit grumpy, and that was largely due to the fact that he wanted everything done the right way,” said Turner. “He had very high standards and made demands on his teammates. He was quite a serious guy off the pitch.
“On the pitch, he worked hard and was just really strong and a willing runner off the ball, a real team player as well. He was at his best when he had the ball at his feet and was running at defenders doing his thing.”
Similar thoughts came from Josh Kerr, who played in the same Albion under-23 side as Gyökeres. Interviewed by Sky Sports, Kerr said: “He’s probably one of the most ruthless players that I’ve seen when he’s on the halfway line and he’s going to goal from the left.
“It was just the pace and power, sometimes teams couldn’t cope with that.”
November 2022 player of the month award
Kerr highlighted the Swede’s willingness to put in a shift for the team, saying: “He would do it without you having to ask him – which is massive for certain teams or managers.
“He was just a good guy and that’s what you get from him. Works hard, does his job for the team.
“We obviously rated him highly then but we didn’t think he would kick on as much as he has, which has been quite incredible.”
The Telegraph’s Turner heaped praise on the player, saying: “He’s so strong on the ball, he protects the ball really well, he will take on two or three players in the box and will somehow get past them.
“He is a formidable striker. He is like an old school centre-forward in stature but he is very good with the ball at his feet. Technically he is good but he is very strong, it’s difficult to shrug him off the ball and he plays with a swagger.”
Maybe if Coventry had reached the Premier League in 2023, he would have stayed but plenty of clubs had noted his scoring prowess and, with a year left on his contract, he opted to move to Portugal to play for Sporting Lisbon under Ruben Amorim.
• See my pre-Arsenal blog post for what happened next.
A YEAR AGO Facundo Buonanotte thought he’d made a dream move – a season-long loan from Brighton to Chelsea (reportedly for a £2m fee).
He had been on the brink of a similar temporary move to Leeds when the chance of switching to Stamford Bridge arose almost literally at the last minute.
Within a fortnight, he made his debut in a 2-2 draw away to Brentford in the Premier League, playing behind Joao Pedro and alongside Pedro Neto and Jamie Gittens, only to be subbed off at half-time.
Ten days later, he played and scored in Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Lincoln in the League Cup.
His autumn wasn’t entirely wasted because he also started in two more Chelsea League Cup games – a 4-3 win away to Wolves and a 3-1 win at Cardiff – and gained European experience in the Champions League with starts v Benfica and Ajax and as a sub on for Joao Pedro v Qarabağ.
There were no more league appearances, though, and it subsequently emerged he only got to play earlier in the season because of the injury absences of Cole Palmer and Liam Delap.
When asked to explain Buonanotte’s lack of involvement, coach Enzo Maresca said: “Facu is working well. He played many games at the beginning because Cole was injured, Liam was injured, so we had more space. There’s not any reason [other than that].”
Buonanotte got one start under Maresca’s successor Liam Rosenior in Chelsea’s 5-1 FA Cup third round win at Charlton, but because of his limited game time with the Londoners his loan was cut short.
Instead of returning to parent club Brighton, he finally got to move to Leeds on a half-season loan and Jason Ayto, Albion’s sporting director at the time, said: “Facundo wants to play and he demonstrated in his loan to Leicester City last season the impact he is able to have in the Premier League when he does.
“This is a great move for all parties and we looking forward to seeing how he continues his development with Leeds United.
Signing for Leeds United
“We wish him well for the remainder of the season and look forward to welcoming him back in the summer.”
Having played in the FA Cup for Chelsea, historically he would have been ruled out of featuring in the competition for Leeds, but the rule changed ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, allowing so-called cup-tied players to represent two clubs.
So, it meant Buonanotte was able to start Leeds’ fourth round FA Cup tie away to Birmingham City – but he was withdrawn at half-time in a game that United won 4-2 on penalties after it finished 1-1.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke said: “He didn’t have his best game in the FA Cup but it’s also a bit realistic. If you bring a player in who has rarely played a game, this is what happens sometimes. He’s in a challenging position.”
In a slightly curious interview with BBC Sport, Farke sought to downplay expectations of what Buonanotte might offer Leeds, explaining: “We haven’t signed him to improve our 11 straight away. We signed him to improve the depth in our squad.
“We let Jack Harrison go out on loan and Harry Gray out on loan. We spoke openly with Facundo about it. We want to make sure we hold the pressure high on our other options.
“We just like his potential. I told him ‘I don’t write you off after one poor half’. I was half expecting this.”
The German added: “It’s never easy – we give you the stage, support and arm around the shoulder. We don’t expect you to cut this league into pieces. It is step by step. If it works out – great, if not it’s a loan for both sides, not a big risk.”
Farke was blunter when talking to Graham Smyth, of the Yorkshire Evening Post, telling the reporter that Buonanotte just had to get on with any criticism being made, although he pointed out: “He’s a very self-critical lad, fantastic human being, I also like his character.
“He’s not coming to the training ground down, he’s still there each day with a smile on his face, enjoying his life together with us, with teammates, but still working hard.”
Farke continued: “It’s not easy if you have not played that much and especially when you’re young and you face a bit of criticism.
“You have to win your momentum and form back, step by step. This is what you try, what he’s trying to do at the moment.”
As it turned out, the player only made three sub appearances for Leeds after that FA Cup tie and former Chelsea, Leeds and England full-back Tony Dorigo offered an explanation in an interview with goal.com.
“He had a couple of opportunities, didn’t do very well. Had a cup game away at Birmingham, really struggled and came off. And you’ve got to say that the other players in his position, or in and around him, were playing better. Simple as that.
“I’m sure he’s been working hard on the training ground, but so is everyone else. So, it’s been good in that respect, you’ve got to play really, really well to keep your spot or try and get into the side. Unfortunately, Buonanotte just hasn’t.”
When Sussex World suggested to Fabien Hurzeler that it had been a wasted season for Buonanotte, he was a little more conciliatory.
“I think every experience for players is important, no matter if they play or not,” he said. “Of course, if you give a player a loan, it’s always helpful that they play, but in the end we can’t make the decision.
“Daniel Farke will have a reason why he’s not playing, and then it’s about the player to understand what he needs to improve to get into the team.
“What value he needs to show in every training session, that he is an option for the coach. And I think that’s also a learning process for the player, especially for a young player like Buonanotte.”
Perhaps if his season had turned out differently, Buonanotte could have been part of Argentina’s World Cup squad along with his former under-20 teammate Valentín Barco. Buonanotte already had two full caps: one gained in 2023 when he went on as a sub in a 2-0 win over Indonesia, the other in 2024 in a 3-0 victory over El Salvador.
Hurzeler said: “I know that he has incredible potential and a lot of talent, but that’s not everything in the Premier League. It’s about work ethic, it’s about being hard to yourself, it’s about suffering if you’re not playing, trying to understand and reflect your own behaviour.”
Saying the player needed to learn to take ownership and responsibility for the situation he found himself in, he added: “Hopefully he gets the right conclusion, the right consequences out of it and we’ll get a better player.”
But the wait goes on for Brighton fans to see Buonanotte back in Albion’s colours because at the beginning of August it was announced he was heading off to Spain on yet another season-long loan, this time to newly-promoted La Liga side Elche under Argentinian head coach Martin Anselmi.
On the move again – Buonanotte has gone on a season-long loan to Spanish side Elche
Sliding in for the Albion in pre-season
Buonanotte, still only 21, was involved in Albion’s pre-season camp in Austria and played as a no.10 as a second half substitute against Strasbourg in Vienna.
He obviously didn’t do enough to convince Hurzeler to keep him within a squad that is also contending with European games this season although when announcing his departure to Spain,
Albion sporting director Mike Cave said: “Facundo is a talented young player who has continued to develop since joining the club.
“This loan gives him the opportunity to play regular football in one of Europe’s top leagues.
“We believe this move will provide an excellent environment for him to gain further experience, and we’ll continue to monitor his progress closely throughout the season.”
Born in Perez, Argentina, two days before Christmas 2004, Buonanotte began his football journey aged just 10 in the youth academy of top Argentine side Rosario Central and he was regarded as one of the most talented graduates from the club since Ángel Di María.
Brighton’s intention to sign him at the age of 17 when the January 2023 transfer window opened was first spoken of in August 2022 and headlines described him as “a wonder kid”.
The club’s technical director at the time, David Weir said: “Facundo is a player we have been aware of for some time, and we have been watching for a while.”
By November that year, he had just completed his first season of top flight football in his home country and Rosario’s boss, the former Man Utd and West Ham striker Carlos Tevez, compared the youngster to Lionel Messi!
“When he brakes and accelerates he reminds me of Messi,” Tevez said after Rosario beat Barracas in August, as reported by Rosario3. “I haven’t seen a boy play like that for a long time.
“Facu has a great mentality, he doesn’t seem to be 17 years old. He is at a very high level, one thinks that he has no ceiling, it is where he wants to go. Today he is physically impeccable.”
Buonanotte played in the Rosario midfield alongside Francis Mac Allister – brother of Alexis.
“I spoke with my brother and he told me that he is an amazing guy and a really good player,” Alexis Mac Allister said. “I am really excited for him. I told him that he is in the right place to keep growing his career.
“I spoke with the Argentina coaching staff when they asked me about him. I said that he’s a very exciting player and once he gets used to the league he will become a top player.”
The young Argentinian in the thick of the action against Manchester City
After signing for Brighton for a reported £5.3m fee on a contract to June 2027, Buonanotte didn’t have to wait long for his first taste of first team action.
Head coach Roberto De Zerbi sent him on as a substitute for Tariq Lamptey with 15 minutes left of the 4 February home game against AFC Bournemouth. An 88th-minute goal by Kaoru Mitoma earned Albion all three points.
Handed his first Premier League start three days after Albion lost on penalties to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final, Buonanotte marked it with a goal at the City Ground, Nottingham, but Albion went down 3-1. It was one of seven starts he made, plus seven appearances off the bench as the Seagulls finished in their highest ever spot of sixth.
In a season in which Brighton competed in Europe for the first time, Buonanotte scored five times in 23 starts plus 13 sub appearances. I was at Stamford Bridge on 3 December 2023 when he pulled one back for the Albion just before half time, curling the ball into the bottom left corner of Robert Sanchez’s goal, in a tetchy encounter that saw Conor Gallagher sent off and eight players booked as Chelsea edged it 3-2.
Facundo for the Albion takes aim at Stamford Bridge…..and his sweet, curling left foot shot beats Robert Sanchez
In spite of the defeat, De Zerbi spoke warmly of Buonanotte’s performance saying: “He played very well, his best game at Brighton. He is getting better and better.
“I know when a young player plays they can make mistakes and need to improve. If they have a talent, a quality, they become better. Facundo can become an important player for us.”
The following month, after the youngster had scored a stunner in Albion’s 5-2 FA Cup win at Sheffield United, De Zerbi told The Athletic he wanted to see more from him in the no.10 role.
“My demand for Facundo is to shoot and make assists, because his qualities are clear. Facundo is another important young player and he is improving a lot. He’s a smart guy, a good guy. I can’t say anything (bad) about his attitude, behaviour on the pitch.
“He has big qualities. It’s difficult to change country when you are so young, to change the style of football because the Premier League is a different competition to all other leagues.
“But he is improving a lot. He played very well; I think the best game of his time at Brighton.”
Once De Zerbi had parted company with the Albion, although Buonanotte was involved in pre-season fixtures under Fabian Hurzeler, the Argentinian was sent out on a season-long loan to Leicester City.
Hurzeler said: “I hope first of all that he will play [for Leicester]. If you play every game, you will develop. He’s still a player for Brighton so we will watch his development.
“He was very good in training. Very happy with him. For me, it’s always important that players try to develop themselves. That only happens if they play. I hope he will get the minutes at Leicester and come back a stronger, better player.”
Although the Foxes were relegated back to the Championship, Buonanotte scored six goals in 35 matches and caught the eye of various observers. Ex-Arsenal and Leicester striker Alan Smith told Instant Casino: “He’s young and has a lot of improving to do before he’s top class. But to be playing so well for a team like Leicester who are in a different situation to Brighton as he has, he’ll certainly be an exciting talent going forwards, wherever he ends up.
“This loan period at Leicester will be great experience for the young midfielder as he is getting regular game time and really seems to be making a difference there. He’ll likely return to Brighton as an even better player with that experience under his belt.”
One of his problems in trying to nail down a permanent role at Brighton is competition in the positions best suited to him, and Hurzeler seems to have doubts about his application.
According to totalfootballanalysis.com: “He thrives in a free-attacking role that allows him to roam the pitch and exploit spaces. This makes him an exceptional creative playmaker, and his inclination to cut inside also makes him a remarkable roaming playmaker.”
Is his versatility an advantage or disadvantage? totalfootballanalysis.com maintains:
“Buonanotte possesses the ability to adapt effectively within different systems when required,” and it speculates his long-term potential could lie in the role of an advanced playmaker.
“This position typically involves a high volume of passes into the final third and direct creation of chances while in possession.”
The comparison to Messi may well have been a blessing and a curse, although Buonanotte told Sky Sports’ Nick Wright in December 2023: “It had an impact! To be compared to, for me, the best player in the world is something that grabs your attention.
“I was very grateful to Carlos (Tevez). It was amazing to be compared to Leo. But I always say that, in my opinion, there are no players who compare to him. It would be a lack of respect for me to compare myself to him because it’s impossible.
“Leo is the best player in the world, possibly in history, and I’m just starting out. I just want to be Facundo Buonanotte.”
ALAN CURBISHLEY, a 1988 promotion winner with third tier Brighton, five years earlier had a watching brief as an unused sub for Aston Villa in a top-flight 0-0 draw with the relegation-bound Seagulls.
That trip to the Goldstone Ground on 26 March 1983 was his first involvement for Villa following a rare transfer between Second City rivals – a £100,000 fee plus makeweight Robert Hopkins taking him from St Andrew’s to Villa Park.
Villa hadn’t signed a player from the Blues since Geoff Vowden’s £12,500 move in March 1971 — and, after Tony Barton’s capture of Curbishley, they didn’t do so again until Spaniard Jota in July 2019.
On the post for Birmingham
After four seasons with City, Curbishley joined a Villa side who were the reigning European Cup holders and fourth in the table at the time. While it was a commendable result for bottom-of-the-table Brighton coming on the back of draws against leaders Liverpool (2-2) and third-placed Manchester United (1-1), Jimmy Melia’s side needed wins to have any chance of staying up.
On the ball for Villa
As for Curbishley, he was again an unused sub the following week, away to Ipswich Town, but two days later, against his former club, he finally got a run-out as a 74th-minute sub for Des Bremner (brother of his future Albion teammate Kevin Bremner). Gary Shaw got the only goal of the game to give Villa the bragging rights.
It wasn’t until 19 April that Curbishley got his first start, slotting into midfield alongside Gordon Cowans and Dennis Mortimer, who scored the only goal of the game as Villa beat West Brom 1-0.
The new man’s debut caught the eye of this newspaper reporter, who wrote: “Curbishley’s quietly produced passes concealed their often considerable effect. Twice late in the match he tackled successfully at vital moments.
“It may well be that Curbishley, late of Birmingham City, is the type of player who makes a bigger mark in a better team for last night he appeared to have more time than ever he did at St Andrew’s.”
His second start saw him face another former club in West Ham and it was an unhappy afternoon because he picked up a booking and Villa lost 2-0.
Curbishley had begun his career with the Hammers and made 85 appearances across the First and Second Divisions before a £275,000 move to Birmingham in 1979.
Although his Villa career was under way, it didn’t pan out in the way he envisaged.
“I had high hopes of success there with them just having won the European Cup,” he told Dave Beckett in an Albion matchday programme article.
“It was soon obvious though that Tony Barton was under pressure from the moment he took over and all the players thought it was just a matter of time before he was sacked.
“He got a raw deal. That season we finished ninth in the league, got to the semis of the League Cup and were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the last minute on the away goals rule.”
Curbishley played the majority of his Villa games under Barton in the 1983-84 season. A creator rather than a scorer, his only goal for the club was scored in a 3-2 defeat at Watford on Boxing Day 1983, a long-range shot that squeezed past Steve Sherwood in the Hornets’ goal.
Come the end of the season, Barton was replaced by Shrewsbury Town boss Graham Turner who proceeded to let go anyone who was a Barton signing.
In Richard Sydenham’s book Ticket To The Moon (deCoubertin Books), which charts Villa’s rise and fall in that period, the journalist discovered Curbishley was given an ex-gratia payment of £30,000 to leave Villa.
After 41 starts plus two as a sub (and nine as an unused sub), Curbishley was sold to Charlton Athletic for £40,000 in December 1984. It was the beginning of a long association with the Addicks punctuated only by his spell at Brighton under Barry Lloyd.
Off the field, Charlton were forced to move from their traditional home at The Valley and play home matches at Selhurst Park, but against that backdrop they managed to win promotion back to the 1st Division in 1986.
Unfortunately, Curbishley sustained an achilles tendon injury and only played 10 games in the 1986-87 season. “I knew I had an achilles injury but the operation was delayed until a week before the start of the new season and consequently I wasn’t fit again until December,” said Curbishley.
“The manager bought two new midfield players, which I understood, but, when I was fit again, I couldn’t get back into the side.”
After 13 seasons playing in the top two divisions, he left Charlton having scored six times in 63 games and dropped down to the Third to join the Albion for £32,500. He made his debut in a goalless draw at Chesterfield on 22 August 1987 in front of a crowd of just 2,286.
After the departure of Jimmy Case in 1985, the centre of Albion’s midfield had been crying out for someone who could put their foot on the ball and pass it, and Curbishley stepped neatly into that role, scoring six goals – mostly penalties – in 34 appearances as Brighton won promotion.
“Alan was a very level-headed guy, an excellent passer and really disciplined,” Albion boss Barry Lloyd told Spencer Vignes in a matchday programme article.
In total, over three years on the south coast, Curbishley played 127 games (plus five as sub) – making his 400th league appearance during the 1988-89 season – and scored 15 goals.
In 1990, Curbishley began his coaching career, returning to Charlton initially as player-coach under Lennie Lawrence. When Lawrence left in 1991, Charlton made the somewhat unusual decision to appoint joint managers: Curbishley and Steve Gritt (who would later be at the helm when Albion narrowly escaped dropping out of the league).
Curbishley’s first signings for Charlton were former Albion teammates Garry Nelson and Steve Gatting and he later plundered young winger John Robinson from the Seagulls. After four years, Curbishley took sole charge at The Valley and led Charlton to some of the most successful times in their history.
Born in Forest Gate, London on 8 November 1957, within a mile of West Ham station, he was one of five children (elder brother Bill famously promoted and managed The Who and Led Zeppelin and was producer of the films Tommy and Quadrophenia).
Curbishley first played in Brighton at under 11 level, in a Newham Boys side against Brighton Boys at Longhill School, in May 1967. He was later capped for England Boys aged 15 and after joining the Hammers straight from school played for England Youth.
He won nine England Youth caps under Ken Burton, scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Poland in Las Palmas on 21 January 1975 when England went on to win the Atlantic Cup. Among his teammates were future England captain Bryan Robson, Peter Barnes and Keith Bertschin.
He vied for a starting berth with Mark Nightingale (Palace, Bournemouth, Norwich, Peterborough), making six starts and three appearances off the bench. His last appearance was in a 1-0 win over Wales in Cardiff on 11 February 1976, playing alongside Glenn Hoddle and Gary Owen.
Curbishley earned his one and only England Under 21 cap in a 5-0 thrashing of Switzerland at Portman Road when Justin Fashanu was among the scorers. He hoped to go to the 1982 World Cup with England, having broken into the England B squad, but fractured a kneecap sliding into a tackle with Albion’s Brian Horton.
“I missed the rest of the season and the start of the next, and the World Cup squad which I might have broken into otherwise,” he said. “It was the worst disappointment I’ve ever faced.”
ARGUABLY the most successful Norwegian to have played for the Albion was defender Leo Østigård, who represented Norway at the recent World Cup.
As I covered in a recent blog post about him, Østigård was impatient for first team football and moved on without taking that step up with the Seagulls.
Nevertheless, he said: “For a Norwegian player to come over to England and be involved with a Premier League team is really good, and obviously makes me very proud.
“I know that a lot of people from Norway are watching me and keeping track of my progress, so it’s always great to be involved in such a big team – football is massive in this country and it’s fantastic.”
• A left-sided defender who was already an experienced Norwegian international when he joined up with Chris Hughton’s promotion-chasing Championship side in 2017 only got as far as Albion’s subs bench.
Vegard Forren, 29 at the time, was signed in March 2017 as back-up when central defensive cover in that position was limited.
Hughton said: “Vegard is a player the club had been aware of for some time, and with the absence of Shane Duffy and Connor Goldson, we felt it was important to take this opportunity to add to our defensive options.
“Vegard has played the majority of his career for Molde, one of the top clubs in Norway, and has an excellent pedigree having also played in the Champions League, Europa League and 33 times for his country.
“With Shane out for a minimum of six weeks, alongside Lewis Dunk, Uwe Huenemeier and Fikayo Tomori, Vegard gives us another central defensive option for the run-in.”
Earlier in his career, Forren was at Southampton for six months, but he spent ten years with Molde, winning three championships and two domestic cups.
He had turned down a new contract at the club the previous season and left the club when the domestic season ended in November. He had been pre-season training with Norwegian side Rosenborg before joining the Albion.
• Back in the Gus Poyet era, striker Torbjørn (‘Toby’) Agdestein spent three years as an Albion player but his time was spent mainly with the development squad with occasional sub appearances for the first team.
Born in Stord, Norway, on 29 November 1991, Agdestein went through the ranks at Stord Idrettslag where he was spotted by Brighton.
In his early days with the club, he had a short loan spell with Bath City, and 13 goals in 13 appearances for the development squad earned him a new two-year deal in March 2012.
Poyet told the club website: “Toby has understood what we have been trying to teach him from the beginning and under Luke Williams (development squad coach) he has become a better player.
“He can play anywhere in attack and he knows when to pass the ball, when to keep the ball and when to shoot.
“He’s a great prospect for the club and he’s produced it for us when he’s come on in first-team games. I know that I can count on him.”
Agdestein in action for Albion v Wrexham
After impressing in Albion’s first two pre-season friendlies in July 2012 Poyet urged him to push for more first team action.
“I’m promising nothing because if I tell you now he is a first team player and next week he doesn’t touch the ball, he doesn’t make any decisions, he doesn’t go past people, he doesn’t score, then he is going to go down (to the development squad),” Poyet cautioned.
“The thing is right now he is with us in the first team squad. The opportunity is there to stay with us. He knows that.”
As it turned out, his contract was terminated by mutual consent with a year left on it and he moved to the north of Scotland to join Inverness Caledonian Thistle, under former England international Terry Butcher.
Butcher told the Daily Record: “He is 6ft 1ins tall and gives us the option of height up front, quite a contrast with wee Billy McKay, our top striker.
“We like the look of Torbjorn, he’s young and strong and willing to learn.
“We’re happy he has agreed to sign until the January window to boost our attacking resources and we can make a decision at that point.”
However, having made only 13 league and cup appearances as a sub, he decided to return to Norway and he played variously for Haugesund, Kristiansund, Odd and Ålesund before returning to his old club, Stord.
• COMBATIVE midfielder Mathias Normann eventually made it to the Premier League with Norwich City having not got beyond Brighton’s under-23 development squad.
Indeed, two of Normann’s 21 (plus three sub appearances) games for the Canaries in 2021-22 were in central midfield in home and away goalless draws with the Seagulls.
When he joined Simon Rusk’s squad from Norwegian second tier side Bodø/Glimt in July 2017, he told the matchday programme: “This is a dream come true for me and it’s very nice for me to be here.
“It’s something that I have always wanted to do since I was a little boy, so this is absolutely fantastic.”
However, within a month, Normann was sent on a season-long loan back to his homeland to play for top tier (Elitserien) Molde under Ole Gunnar Solskjær.
The former Manchester United player and manager said at the time: “He is a quality player, which he particularly demonstrated in the Tippeligaen last year when he showed clear leadership qualities. He complements the other midfielders we have in an excellent way.”
Born in Svolvær on 28 May 1996, Normann began his football career at Svolvær and Lofoten FK before moving to Bodø/Glimt ahead of the 2013 season. He was loaned to Alta for the 2015 season.
On his return to Brighton in the summer of 2018 after the season with Molde, he was sent off (for two yellow cards) on his debut for the under-23s in a 0-0 draw with Liverpool.
Team boss Rusk said: “He is quite combative and I think it was the right decision. Maybe when he is a little more match sharp, with a few more games under his belt, he might not be picking up that second yellow.”
Normann played in the same Albion side as Ben White, Østigård, Aaron Connolly and Viktor Gyökeres that drew 2-2 with Peterborough United and beat MK Dons 3-2 in the Checkatrade Trophy.
He featured 11 times for the under-23s but the following January left on a permanent basis to join Russian club FC Rostov.
Rusk said at the time: “It’s been enjoyable to work with Mathias during his time at the club, but this move makes sense for all parties involved, with it being an excellent move for him.”
It was from Rostov that Norwich signed Normann on loan and City boss Daniel Farke told the club’s official website. “It’s not easy for us to bring a player in who had many clubs interested in him.
“We see lots of potential in Mathias and he’s capable to play in several roles. He’s quite versatile in the midfield positions.
“Quite often, he plays the holding midfield position. But he’s very good with his passing choices and is a good technical player. He’s not the tallest but is still very good in the air and in the duels.”
Ahead of that first game he played against the Albion, The Argus asked the opinion of Connor Southwell, who covers the Canaries for the Eastern Daily Press.
“The biggest compliment I can give to Mathias Normann is that he’s been the best player for Norwich in every game he has played.
“I’ve been sat in the press box at both Everton and Burnley and on both occasions local media for the opposition have praised his efforts,” said Southwell.
“He’s added a real quality into Norwich’s midfield and has rapidly become the first name on the team sheet. He combines tenacity with technical quality with ease.”
Normann made his full Norway debut in 2019 and went on to earn 12 full caps. After his season with Norwich, he returned to Russia to play for Dynamo Moscow, then in 2023 moved to the Middle East where he has since played for Saudi side Al-Raed, Qatari outfit Al-Sailiya and another Qatari side, Al-Gharafa, on loan.
• With the signing of people like Anthony Knockaert, Jiri Skalak and Steve Sidwell plus Liam Ridgewell on loan, Henrik Bjørdal’s arrival at Brighton for a reported £300,000 from Ålesund in January 2016 rather went under the radar.
And that’s pretty much where he stayed because Chris Hughton had plenty more experienced wingers at his disposal with the likes of Knockaert, Solly March and Jamie Murphy.
The player spoke about his prospects in an interview with Andy Naylor for The Argus in January 2017, when he declared: “I didn’t come here to play too much under-23 football. I was hoping I would be close to first team level. I want to play at as high a level as possible, of course.
“I feel like I have made progress, but it’s a promotion team. It’s very difficult to come in, I know that.”
While recognising the difficulty of breaking into the first team picture, Bjørdal told Naylor: “Anthony is a player I like to watch and learn from.
“He’s a skilful player who likes to beat his man. I’m the same type of player and I want to do the same sort of things as him, so of course I want to train with the first team and try to see what he’s doing, to be as good as him.”
He added: “It’s more difficult to play a game when the team is top of the table but I like that challenge. It’s good to be around a team who wins almost every week.”
Born in Ålesund on 4 February 1997, Bjørdal played youth football for IL Valder then progressed through Norwegian top tier side Ålesund’s youth ranks to their first team.
His switch to the Albion found him playing in front of far fewer people than he had been used to; his hometown club often had crowds of 7,000 in a 10,000-capacity stadium.
“It’s a little bit different from playing at Crawley! It’s a bit more silent than I was used to,” he said.
“I played for them in the first team for two seasons, in the top league, playing against good teams. It’s not easy to compare.”
Two months after that interview, he was loaned to Swedish side IFK Göteborg until the end of that season.
When the breakthrough at Brighton didn’t materialise, in June 2018 Bjørdal made a permanent move to Belgian side Zulte Waregem and in an interview with Ålesund’s newspaper, Sunnmørsposten, he said: “The time in England didn’t quite turn out as I imagined.
“When I look back at it, there are periods I’ve been frustrated, but I’ve come out stronger mentally and as a player. It’s been good for me.”
From Belgium, he returned to Norway and since 2020 has played for Oslo-based Vålerenga.
PLAYERS and fans alike couldn’t quite believe it when a Spanish international known as The Dagger made his first and only plunge into English football with second tier Brighton.
Vicente – no need for a surname, although in full it was Vicente Rodríguez Guillén – lit up the Amex with sublime skills and ball control.
Simply a magician with the ball at his feet, Vicente glided past opponents with astonishing ease and literally had supporters on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what he might do next.
“The romantic in me hopes that Vicente, nicknamed El Puñal, the dagger, in Spain, proves to be the sharpest bit of transfer business this season,” Rob Bagchi said of the signing in The Guardian.
So, enough of the nickname, what about the player? Here was someone who had made 340 appearances for Valencia, the majority under Rafa Benitez, and helped them to win two Spanish league titles and the UEFA Cup.
His talent had been rewarded with 38 caps for Spain over four years, including representing his country at the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal (“Spain’s best player of the tournament” according to seasoned watcher Guillem Balague). He’d previously won 44 caps across various younger levels.
Albion manager Gus Poyet, who had played for Real Zaragoza in Spain for seven years, ‘sold’ the club to the gifted left winger and described Vicente’s signing in September 2011 as “a major coup”. It was certainly quite a statement of intent for the club’s first season at the Amex.
The player himself told the matchday programme he’d always wanted to play in England, to sample the football culture, “which is totally different to what we have back home”.
He added: “When I spoke to Gus Poyet about coming to Brighton, it really excited me. I wanted to come to a club that plays good football, exciting and attacking football. I have discovered that since I arrived.”
38 caps for Spain
Vicente arrives at the Amex
Born in Benicalap, a working class neighbourhood of Valencia, on 16 July 1981, he played youth football for C. F. Unión Deportiva Benicalap.
His professional football breakthrough came after a successful trial at the city’s then tier two side Levante. He was just 16 when he made his debut for them in 1997 and three years later he joined Valencia.
In a 2016 interview with Brian Owen of The Argus, Vicente spoke of his admiration for Benitez, describing him as a top level coach ahead of his time.
“When he arrived at Valencia and applied his methods, along with his coaching staff who were also top class, the results were incredible,” said Vicente. “He transmitted a winning mentality. He took care of all aspects of the game, the training sessions, the preparation of a footballer. He has an enormous capacity for work.
“And he has had success at Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter, Napoli – there’s a reason for that. As a coach he could always get the best out of you, which is key for a player and for a team.
“He would demand the absolute maximum – but on the other side he was the sort who would help you during troubled times and just get the best he could from you. I like that. Having demands placed upon you is what helps you grow.
Valencia trophy winner under Benitez
“I’ve got the best possible memories of Rafa, no doubt. With Rafa we achieved goals with Valencia which have never been repeated.
“It is very hard to battle for the league with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and we won two titles in three years, we did the double by winning the UEFA Cup. They were the best years in the recent history of Valencia.”
The teammates Vicente joined up with at Brighton could scarcely believe a player of his pedigree had signed.
“His left foot was unbelievable,” Gary Dicker told Andy Naylor, of The Athletic. “He wasn’t that fast but he was so quick with the ball. He could drift past players and, if he got away from you, you weren’t catching him.”
Centre-forward Craig Mackail-Smith added: “His ability and the way the Spanish are brought up, the way they look after the ball and move it, you could just see why Real Madrid wanted to buy him. He had everything; left foot, right foot, acceleration. He was just a fantastic player to have at the club for everyone to learn from.”
In spite of his long list of previous achievements, Vicente explained his decision to move to Brighton in an interview with the matchday programme: “This is not about status or money, this is about enjoying my football again – and I believe I am at the right club to do that.
“The first four or five years at Valencia were the best of my career, where I won titles at home and in Europe, but the last year was hard because I didn’t have a good relationship with the coach (Unai Emery) and didn’t play much football.
“It was sad that things ended that way but I left because I wanted to play more. I am only 30, so have a few good years left in me. I can still improve and I want to help Brighton to the highest level possible.”
Vicente lets fly away to Burnley
Instant impact on debut against Liverpool
Vicente made an instant impression on Brighton fans when he replaced Will Buckley on the hour of Albion’s Carling Cup third round match at home to Liverpool.
The Spaniard was felled in the penalty area by a wild Jamie Carragher tackle and Ashley Barnes converted the spot kick, although Liverpool won the tie 2-1 courtesy of goals by Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt.
“If we can get him fit for the pace and craziness of the English game, he will be an unbelievable player for us,” Poyet told the media after the game.
Fitness was an ongoing issue for Vicente throughout his career. It had caused friction during his time at Valencia and it would ultimately lead to a schism with Poyet that curtailed the player’s involvement in Brighton’s colours too.
Within weeks of him scoring his first Albion goal on his first start, in a 3-1 defeat at Ipswich Town, he was unavailable for nine matches due to a thigh problem.
By December 2011, perhaps showing the first signs of frustration, Poyet told The Argus: “He’s fit. For whatever reasons, he’s just had every day a little bit of pain and aches. He couldn’t really be pain free, so he didn’t train with us more than once or twice last week.
“If everything went all right over the weekend then he should be training with us today but I don’t think he is ready to play 90 minutes.”
The Uruguayan added: “We were convinced he would take us to another level but we have lost him for many, many games so far. We need to make sure he recovers. I am still confident that he will bring a lot.”
Alas, Vicente continued to be absent for several more weeks suffering from adductor, hamstring and groin problems. Even after he’d made a goalscoring return in March, he admitted: “I’m not 100 per cent yet, but I’m almost there. I’m feeling better and I hope I’ll be at 100 per cent very soon. With luck the injury problems are behind me and I can keep the shirt.”
He was speaking after scoring twice having gone on for Craig Noone in the 57th minute of Albion’s 10 March home game against Portsmouth. He whipped off his shirt and earned a booking from Mike Dean after scoring direct from a free kick in the 75th minute and then, in injury time, he buried a cross from Kazenga LuaLua to clinch a win.
“The emotion that came out after the free-kick was simply because I hadn’t played for so long and the celebration showed how happy I was to have helped the team,” he said. “It’s been hard for me but that’s football and I’ve just had to keep working.
“It has been frustrating to have so many injuries, missing so much of the season and not being able to be in the team or play in recent games, but to come on and do well made me very happy.”
Vicente celebrates a goal
Captain Gordon Greer said: “The things he did against Portsmouth he does all the time in training and it’s just a shame we haven’t seen more of him this season. He’s the player who can change a game for us.”
Vicente had a one-year contract with the Seagulls but the club had an option to keep him another year, which they exercised. However, the player didn’t show for pre-season training ahead of the new season, apparently unhappy at the option being activated.
With his partner having recently given birth to their second child, and settled at home in Valencia, Vicente was keen to stay in Spain and join Elche, a side where his former Valencia coach Fran Escriba had taken over.
But Poyet was insistent Vicente should honour his contract and told Owen, of The Argus: “When a player is under contract you expect him to be here. Then there can be unhappiness, there can be decisions, there can be negotiations, there can be problems, there can be discussions, there can be 100 things between a player and a club.
“That’s normal because not everything is always perfect. But we will deal with it internally.”
By the first week of July, a delighted Poyet announced on the club website: “Vicente will be with us next season and to know he will be part of the squad is fantastic news for the club and our supporters.
“Too much has been made of the situation but Vicente’s had some personal issues to resolve before being able to return to England; nothing to do with football or financial issues.
“These issues have been resolved now and everyone is happy.”
Vicente takes control against Chelsea in a pre-season friendly
He played and scored in the curtain-raiser 3-1 friendly win over Chelsea at the Amex, appeared in the first competitive game of the season, a 3-0 reverse against Swindon Town in the league cup, and went on as a sub in a 0-0 draw at Cardiff, but he was then missing from the squad for four months.
When veteran Albion reporter Naylor took a look back at Vicente’s Brighton spell in a March 2021 article for The Athletic, Greer, the skipper at the time, told him: “Vicente was struggling with his fitness. Gus wanted him to play but Vicente didn’t feel he was ready to play or, for whatever reason, couldn’t play.
“I think Vicente felt the way Gus spoke to people at times wasn’t to his liking. I know he wasn’t happy some of the time and not feeling confident about his body.”
Greer added: “We could only imagine how good he would have been if he’d stayed fit, or how good he was when he was slightly younger and playing all the time.”
Last Albion game home to Wolves
The best Albion fans saw of him in the 2012-13 season came in back-to-back home games in February 2013 when he scored in a 1-0 win against Hull City and a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers three days later.
He made only seven starts plus six appearances off the bench across the whole 2012-13 season and his last involvement was in the final game of the normal season, a 2-0 win over Wolves. Poyet didn’t pick him for either leg of the play-off semi-final loss to Crystal Palace.
After his release from the club at the end of the season, Vicente vented his feelings about Poyet via The Argus declaring him “the worst person I’ve come across in football” and describing him as “selfish” and “egocentric”.
Eight years later, Vicente told The Athletic’s Naylor how his relationship with Poyet was good at the beginning “but there were decisions I did not understand. Training sessions were fun but always the same”.
He went on: “I don’t hold a grudge against him. I suppose he was trying to get the most out of the team at the end of the second season and the relationship did not go well then.
“There were details that, as a professional, I did not like. I have not spoken with him again. I think he could have been clearer in some situations.”
Vicente retired a year after leaving Brighton and for a while was part of the technical team at Valencia. He then became a partner in a player agency.
Reflecting on his time with the Seagulls, Vicente told Naylor: “I was very comfortable in the city and with my team-mates. The fans always treated me very well and I enjoyed playing every game at the Amex. I feel very proud to have been part of the club. I will always carry them in my heart.”
The player also told Owen of The Argus: “It’s a source of pride that the Brighton fanbase hold me in such high regard.
“I’d have loved to have played more for them because I knew the fans liked me. The connection with them was excellent.”
THE WORLD CUP became something of a centre-back marketplace for Brighton, but what about the one that got away: Leo Østigård of Norway.
Østigård was only ever on the fringe of Albion’s first team and spent the majority of his time under contract with the club on loan in the Championship or Europe.
Yet he has since won more than 40 caps for his country and he was so committed to Ståle Solbakken’s Norway squad in the United States that he watched his partner, Aurora Eidmann, give birth to their son on a video call!
“I’m totally exhausted, but it was really fantastic,” Østigård told The Sun’s Emillia Hawkins. “She did an amazing job. I was not able to say that much. The only thing I could do was to support her and help her do the job. I’m so proud.
“It’s difficult to understand it. When I saw him for the first time, I broke down. I’m so happy and proud. The greatest thing I ever experienced. No doubt.”
Defending for Norway at the World Cup
The birth came a few days after Østigård scored in Norway’s 4-1 Group I win over Iraq (when Manchester City’s Erling Haaland got a brace). A sub in the 3-2 win over Senegal, Østigård returned to the starting line-up for the 4-1 defeat to France.
He sat out the last 32 win over Ivory Coast and moments after going on as a 95th minute sub against Brazil in the last 16 match conceded a penalty that Neymar converted.
Østigård plays his club football at Genoa, the fourth club he was on loan to from Brighton (in the second half of the 2021-22 season), although he’s had three other clubs (Napoli, Rennes and TSG Hoffenheim) since departing the Seagulls.
Albion bought him from Norwegian Eliteserien side Molde FK when he was 18, initially to link up with Simon Rusk’s under-23 squad.
At that point he’d already represented his country multiple times at under 16, 17, 18 and 19 levels. He subsequently played for the under 20s and under 21s and made his full international debut in March 2022.
Born in the small Norwegian town of Åndalsnes (at the mouth of the River Rauma and at the foot of the Romsdalshorn and Trollveggen mountains) on 28 November 1999, his father captained the local team and the young Østigård got his first taste of football on a pitch a three-minute bike ride from his house.
“When I was 14 or 15, I started training with the first team, and I travelled by bus every day after school to Molde (1 hour 15 minutes’ drive), to play for one of the best clubs in Norway,” he told ligue1.com in an October 2024 interview. “At 16, I finished school in Åndalsnes and moved to Molde with my sister (Rikke), in an apartment.”
He was in the Molde youth team that won the Norwegian Junior Cup two years in a row and, having stepped up to the reserves, at 16 knocked on first team manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s door threatening to leave unless he was involved in first team training.
“A week later, I was training with them. I became captain in pre-season at 17,” he said. “He (Solskjaer) liked me after that meeting, because he saw that I wanted something. If I hadn’t gone to his office, I might never have had this opportunity.”
During his first season at Brighton, he played 12 Premier League Two games (and scored twice in a PL2 victory over West Ham United in December) and Brian Owen of The Argus observed how assured Østigård looked playing alongside Ben White and Ben Barclay in Albion’s Checkatrade Trophy win (on penalties) over Peterborough in October 2018.
He was selected on the bench for a 2-1 fifth round FA Cup win over Derby County in February 2019, hoping it might lead to more involvement with the first team.
Fellow under-21 Viktor Gyökeres did get on as a late sub for goalscorer Jurgen Locadia but Østigård wasn’t called on. Nevertheless, he told the matchday programme: “It’s always good to be involved with the first team; I’ve trained a little bit with them now and I feel good – it’s a step up, but to be in the stadium with nearly 25,000 people was great and a fantastic experience.
Østigård and Gyökeres
“For a Norwegian player to come over to England and be involved with a Premier League team is really good, and obviously makes me very proud.
“I know that a lot of people from Norway are watching me and keeping track of my progress, so it’s always great to be involved in such a big team – football is massive in this country and it’s fantastic.”
He captained Norway at the under-20 World Cup in Poland that summer and caught the eye of the watching media. Owen of The Argus found magazine France Football purring over the young defender for his solid duels and keen passing, noting that his capability for extremely precise long balls showed real technical ability.
Østigård’s first loan away from Brighton was a season-long switch to Bundesliga 2 side FC St Pauli (the German club Fabian Hürzeler coached before Brighton).
His under-23 coach Rusk said: “This is an excellent loan move for Leo and one which comes at the right time for him. I’m sure he’ll learn valuable lessons from a tough season in the Bundesliga 2.
“Leo works extremely hard on the training pitch and his commitment to improve is clear to see, which is always great to see from a player of his age.”
It wasn’t long before he played a part in St Pauli’s first Hamburg derby win in 59 years, when they beat their city rivals 2-0 at the Millerntor Stadium.
“It was fantastic and definitely the best atmosphere I’ve ever played in,” he said. “It was a bit of shock for me because it’s a huge derby game.
“I’m 19 and still relatively new to the club so I had to just try to do my best and not think about everything around the game, but of course it was superb, and everything was so memorable.
“You have to be there to really get a feel for how crazy the fans were. It’s a new step for me and now I know how it feels to play in front of 30,000 passionate fans. I’ll learn a lot from that and it’s exactly what I need at this stage of my career.”
He made a total of 28 appearances for the German club before returning to the UK and being sent on loan to Coventry City for the 2020-21 season. Announcing his “exciting signing”, manager Mark Robins said: “He’s a player with brilliant pedigree, he’s one of the top players for his age in European football.”
When Andy Naylor of The Athletic caught up with the confident young defender in February 2021, he had just been reunited at the Sky Blues with Gyökeres (who’d also been on loan at St Pauli and had spent the first half of the season on loan at Swansea City).
Unfortunately, not only were they not able to play at Coventry’s home ground because of a dispute with the landlord of the Ricoh Arena, when they played at Birmingham’s St Andrew’s it was empty because of the Covid ban on fans.
“To not play on your home ground is a weird feeling,” Østigård told Naylor. “They have some flags on the stands but I remember the feeling last year at Millerntor in St Pauli, it was incredible; so like home. It was hard for teams playing against us to win. It’s not the same here now. I miss that, of course.”
The youngster was forthright too about where his career was going vis a vis Brighton. “I don’t want to just sit on the bench or have no chance of playing,” he said. “I am not at Brighton to sit on the bench. That’s not the point for me.
“I need to be sold or to sign a new contract. I’ve been very honest with them and they know they can’t lie to me or just say the right things. If they don’t need me, it’s better for me to go elsewhere.”
Østigård had a few minutes with the first team during pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2021-22 season, playing the second half of a 0-0 draw with Rangers at Ibrox and going on as a 58th minute sub for Dan Burn in a 3-1 win at Luton. He only got on in the dying seconds of the home 2-0 defeat to Getafe, replacing Joel Veltman.
He signed a new one-year deal with the Albion but with the likes of Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Shane Duffy, Burn and Veltman ahead of him was then promptly loaned to Stoke City in the Championship for another season-long deal.
Stoke loan turned sour
Brighton head coach Graham Potter said: “Leo has spent pre-season with the first team here and has demonstrated how much his game has developed during his time with Coventry.
“This move to Stoke will hopefully see him play regularly and continue with his progression.”
Østigård told Stoke’s website: “Maybe you have to take the risk and stay at Brighton but right now at my age I just want to play as many games as I can.
“That has been the case for the last two or three years now. I just love to play games and that is my main thing. I feel it is a very good step for me to play another season in the Championship for Stoke.”
Interviewed by Peter Smith of the Stoke Sentinel in September 2021, Østigård said: “When Michael O’Neill got in touch, I was convinced that I could become a part of something really good here at Stoke. He had a plan for the club – and a clear plan for me. My goal is to help the club reach its goal – which is to get back on top.
“I want to give absolutely everything for the fans. That is how I want to be perceived.”
Although he made 14 starts and one sub appearance, he fell out of favour and didn’t play again after November 24, with O’Neill saying: “We felt Leo wasn’t really the type of player we wanted just in terms of building the game.”
However, Stoke fan Rob Salt maintained: “One of the biggest mistakes we made was not signing him permanently. He is a class defender and always wears his heart on his sleeve when he plays.”
On to Genoa – and a change of weather
With his Stoke loan cut short in January 2022, he spent the remainder of the season at Andriy Shevchenko’s Genoa, who slipped to relegation from Serie A.
Østigård observed: “It was completely different again because I was used to the rain and the cold. I felt like a new person because I saw the sun in the morning!”
While in Italy, he caught the eye of Napoli and they bought him from Brighton that July. The fee may have been undisclosed but wearebrighton.com reckoned it might have been as high as £10m for a player said to have cost £100,000, pointing out: “Brighton’s policy of signing young players and developing them into coveted talents is one that works” and adding: “Disappointing though it is to lose a player with the potential to have a huge career ahead of him, Brighton have at least extracted a big fee from Napoli.”
A scorer for Napoli but not enough starts for his liking
Albion’s then technical director David Weir said: “Leo’s had really successful loan spells in Germany, Italy and here in the UK in the Championship with Coventry City and Stoke City, so it was no surprise he attracted such interest from a top Italian club like Napoli.
“He is also keen to play regular senior football and establish himself as a permanent player. That was not something we were able to guarantee for Leo, so the transfer is good for both clubs and the player.”
He struggled to get starts at his new club but in October 2022 scored his first goal for Napoli as he helped secure a 3-0 Champions League win over Rangers – their 12th win in a row and 16th without defeat from the start of the season.
Although he valued the experience of being at such a big club, he was frustrated at too frequently watching from the sidelines. He told ligue1.com: “It was difficult, because it was the first time I didn’t play every game. I wasn’t used to it and I hated it.
“The first year, the results were excellent, we had no injuries, it was almost the same team in every game (Napoli won the title in 2023). So, it wasn’t easy to watch from the bench, but you have to stay professional. And when you play, you have to seize the opportunity. We won the championship for the first time in 33 years, it was incredible.”
After two years in Italy, next stop was Rennes (right) in France in July 2024 for €7,000,000 but six months later, after 18 Ligue 1 and French Cup appearances, he was on the move again, switching to Germany and Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim on loan.
“In Leo, we have found a centre-back with the qualities we were looking for in the final stretch of the winter transfer period,” said Andreas Schicker, TSG’s managing director of sport.
“Despite his young age, he is already an internationally experienced player. He is an uncompromising defender who doesn’t shy away from a duel. That’s why we’re convinced that Leo will give our game the stability we need.”
TSG just managed to avoid relegation and in July Østigård returned to Italy, and Genoa, initially on loan before the move was made permanent in January 2026.
DUTCH INTERNATIONAL Davy Pröpper was a mainstay of Albion’s midfield in the club’s first three seasons in the Premier League.
He joined for a reported £11.7million (a record at the time) from PSV Eindhoven and instantly became a regular in the side as a holding midfielder alongside Dale Stephens.
Describing the 25-year-old as “a strong competitor”, Albion boss Chris Hughton said: “There is no doubting his pedigree, Davy has played a number of matches in the Champions League for PSV, as well as international football for the Netherlands.”
The player said he had spoken to Danny Holla (a much less successful Dutch midfielder who played for Brighton between 2014 and 2016) who told him good things about the club and the city.
Pröpper told Nick Ames, of The Observer, he knew it was time to move on from PSV after they’d been eliminated from the Europa League play-offs at the hands of the Croatian side Osijek in early August 2017.
“There were other clubs interested, but not from England, and the Premier League was very important for me. I’d been really close to joining Zenit St Petersburg in the winter break; they wanted to pay a lot of money but PSV didn’t want to sell me at the time and I wasn’t especially disappointed. I preferred to move on in the summer.”
Pröpper succeeded Beram Kayal as Stephens’ regular midfield sidekick and, in a matchday programme interview, declared: “We are working really well as a partnership – Dale’s a great player. My partnership with him is probably the best of my career, although this is the first time I’ve played in a formation where we have two holding midfielders.
Pröpper hailed his midfield partnership with Dale Stephens
“We are the shield in the team and maybe we don’t get noticed as much as other players. But we’re happy with that. I think we are underrated as a pair but I also think that not being in the spotlight is a good thing for us. We can just get on with what we do.”
He may have felt underrated, but his former PSV coach, Phillip Cocu, who managed Derby County in the Championship in 2019-20, was full of admiration, telling The Athletic: “He was an absolute quality player in the sense of his technical ability.
“He controls the ball but his vision in the game and his awareness is so high. His endurance is unbelievable. He can go 120 minutes up and down if he needs to.
“He developed excellent vision. He is a very complete player. He has a good size, a good tactical interpretation of the game and his technical part of the game is excellent.”
Hughton’s successor Graham Potter was also impressed. He told The Athletic in March 2020: “He’s a very, very good player. He plays in the Dutch national team in front of Van Dijk and alongside (Frenkie) de Jong. You have to be good to do that. I like him as a person. He’s quiet but, when he speaks, he speaks with intelligence. I think he is enjoying his football and he’s a joy to work with.”
Pröpper up against Virgil Van Dijk
When Van Dijk was asked about his compatriot after Liverpool edged a 2-1 win over the Albion in late 2019, he said: “Davy is a fantastic player. He is very important for our country and a great guy.”
Pröpper almost always looked comfortable playing in England’s elite league and, for example, a hip swerve and pinpoint cross with the outside of his boot for a Pascal Gross goal at Old Trafford in January 2019 was described by Albion writer Scott McCarthy as “an outrageous piece of skill from an outrageously talented player.”
Pröpper admitted: “To line up in midfield against all these great players is something that helps bring the best out of my game and was a reason why I wanted to come to the Premier League in the first place.”
Fans weren’t always convinced, though, some viewing him as a bit languid at times. However,
Pröpper scores one of his only two Albion goals away at Leicester
wearebrighton.com declared: “Surging runs forward from midfield became a trademark move. Pröpper was one of our most talented players and would frequently do things that other players couldn’t.”
The one thing missing from his game at Brighton was goals. He had found the net seven times in each of his last two seasons with Vitesse Arnhem, then scored 22 goals in all competitions across two seasons at PSV.
He only scored twice in 121 games for Brighton yet he scored three in 19 appearances for his country. Fourteen of those caps were won while he was at the Albion.
In action for his country against England’s Dele Alli
Propper explained: “All the clubs before, we played three in midfield and one holding, I wasn’t holding, so it was more like a ten or eight. That’s changed a little bit but if I have a chance, I need to score.”
Goals aside, during his second season with the club, Pröpper was sure his game had improved. “I can think and act a bit quicker when I get the ball now,” he said. “I realise that I need to know where my teammates are, otherwise opponents here take the ball off you so quickly.
“Obviously the Premier League is very different to the Eredivisie, so it took a period to adapt to the pace of the game here, but I feel comfortable playing in the Premier League and I’m enjoying my football.”
Enjoyment was obviously a decisive factor for Pröpper and having made 110 league and cup appearances, his last season with the Seagulls was a major disappointment. A combination of increased competition in midfield, a niggling Achilles injury picked up in pre-season, illness and the Covid pandemic limited his involvement and led to him falling out of love with the game.
In a passionate farewell to Brighton, Pröpper said: “Football is difficult, people go in separate ways, but I have made a few friends for life here. My time with Brighton I will never forget.”
He reflected: “It was tough coming from Holland to England because it is such a big change; the physicality is at a much higher level. The way the game is played here is completely different in terms of intensity and there was a period of adaptation. But we did well from the off and have always proved that we deserve to be at the top level.”
Although he returned to his former club PSV Eindhoven (left) in the summer of 2021, six months later he quit football at the age of just 30 and his old Albion boss, Potter, said: “We spoke at length with Davy when he was here and supported him through a tough time in his life.
“It is not easy to start the process of thinking ‘maybe football is not the right thing for me.’ It is a big decision to make and I think Davy has made a brave one.
“He was a Dutch guy living in the UK in lockdown, so he didn’t get to see much of his family and friends and that was an added pressure.
“For me, he was a great guy to have around, was always professional and was always trying. But that is life sometimes, these things happen and people want to do different things and I fully respect that.
“He had all our support while he was here and we wish him the best now. I have nothing but good things to say about Davy both as a professional and as a person.”
The player himself said: “During the period that I was abroad, I noticed that I slowly lost the pleasure of football. I found it extremely difficult to muster the discipline necessary to perform optimally and to let my life completely be determined by the busy football schedule.
“The Corona period and the lack of visits from family and friends did me no good then either.”
Explaining that making the decision to quit felt like a relief, he added: “This is how I know it’s the right choice.”
Born in Arnhem, the eastern Netherlands city close to the German border, on 2 September 1991, Pröpper was the eldest of three footballing brothers, all of who were coached by their father, Peter, at the local amateur club VDZ in their formative years. Centre-back Robin has mainly played in his homeland but spent the 2024-25 season with Rangers in Scotland. Mike, also a defender, has included Den Bosch among Dutch clubs he’s played for.
Early days at Vitesse Arnhem
After two years at VDZ, Davy spent the next four years with the academy at Vitesse Arnhem, the club he’d supported as a boy, before turning pro aged 16 in 2008 and making his first team debut two years later.
Pröpper played as a striker in his formative years and only switched to midfield at Vitesse when he was 20. Before that, in common with other Dutch youngsters, he was encouraged to play in different positions, although he said: “In some ways it’s good, but in other ways not so good because you need to keep improving in your best position.
“But I did learn a lot of different things playing in different positions and I think as a midfielder that has helped me.”
It would seem Pröpper had something of a crisis of confidence when his Vitesse career didn’t progress quite as quickly as he’d hoped and he told Ames, of The Observer, in September 2017: “I went to see someone, I guess you’d call him a motivational coach, and it helped me a lot at the time.
“He told me that events were there to be shaped by me, and not about the choices a trainer or somebody else makes. It led to a change in my career; when I didn’t play, I was able to throw the problem away a little bit. I didn’t keep disappointments in my head.”
After 162 appearances for Vitesse and scoring 21 goals, in 2015 he moved up a level and joined PSV Eindhoven, explaining to Hames: “Taking that internal step was the best route for me. I needed some time just to see how it goes and feel comfortable.”
A highlight during his time with PSV was scoring the winning goal at home to CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League that sent the club into the last 16 of the competition for the first time in nine years. He also only missed one league match as PSV won the Eredivisie title for a second season in a row.
Having spent a year out of the game following his decision to quit, Pröpper had a change of heart and tried to revive his career back where it all started, at Vitesse Arnhem.
He trained for eight weeks before deciding to give it another go, telling the club website: “It’s only when you distance yourself or say goodbye to something, you find out what it really means to you. You get an eye for the positive aspects again. That is, of course, football itself, but also the cooperation, performance and being part of a team and a club.”
He reflected: “I have many happy and warm memories of my thirteen years at this club. Vitesse has shaped me and feels like my home in terms of football.”
It helped that there was a familiar face in his old PSV coach Phillip Cocu, but, alas, he mustered only five appearances and he opened up on the club website, saying: “My return at Vitesse unfortunately did not have the effect I had hoped in advance.
“I regret that enormously. Due to various injuries, I have barely been able to make minutes at my club. Since there is no prospect of better either, I have decided to definitely stop playing football from next season. It’s better that way.”
In March 2026, the Albion welcomed Pröpper back to the training ground at Lancing for an under 15s match between the Albion and Vitesse Arnhem.
Pröpper, who was pictured (right) with fellow Dutchman Joel Veltman, became assistant to Vitesse’s under 15s coach Richard van der Lee in June 2025.
BRIGHTON fans may have been forgiven for doing a double take at the sight of Jurgen Locadia at the World Cup.
The big money flop who only scored six in 46 appearances (23 starts + 23 as a sub) for the Seagulls led the line for footballing minnows Curaçao in Group E at the 2026 World Cup when they lost twice (2-0 to Côte d’Ivoire and 7-1 to Germany) but forced an honourable 0-0 draw with Ecuador.
The Dutchman won 35 caps for the Netherlands across under-17 to under-21 levels, but switched allegiance to Curaçao (the Dutch Caribbean island his family came from) who were managed by veteran boss Dick Advocaat, the man who launched Locadia’s PSV Eindhoven career.
Curaçao goalkeeper Eloy Room, a Miami FC teammate of Locadia, was largely instrumental in persuading other Dutch-born players with Curacaoan roots to join Advocaat’s squad in their unlikely World Cup adventure, which was made easier with the tournament’s expansion to 48 teams.
Although Locadia had been called up to the Dutch senior squad on various occasions between 2014 and 2017, he had withdrawn through injury. When he was fit and selected for games against Belarus and Sweden in 2017, he was an unused substitute.
Locadia scores the winner for Albion against Everton
Locadia’s time with Brighton was a costly disappointment apart from back-to-back matches at Christmas 2018 when he got an equaliser in a home draw with Arsenal and the winner as Everton were beaten at the Amex three days later.
He also buried a decent strike (right) in the March 2019 FA Cup quarter final against Millwall when Albion recovered from 2-0 down, reducing the deficit with Locadia’s shot on the turn before Solly March’s lofted free-kick slipped through ‘keeper David Martin’s hands to equalise. Albion won the penalty shoot-out 5-4.
Debut goal in FA Cup v Coventry
In the same competition, Locadia had made a goalscoring debut for the Seagulls 13 months earlier, converting an Anthony Knockaert cross in the 15th minute as Albion beat Coventry City 3-1 at the Amex.
A week later, after going on as a sub, he notched the fourth goal when Albion beat Swansea City 4-1 at Falmer.
He’d been at the club a month, unable to play because he was nursing a hamstring injury when signed from PSV, but such a start seemed to justify the then record £14.1m paid out for a player who’d already scored nine goals in 15 games for PSV earlier that season.
Boss Chris Hughton declared: “He is a player we have been aware of for some time and it’s been no secret we have wanted to add a striker of his type.
“He is a strong, powerful and quick centre-forward with a real eye for goal, and will increase our attacking options in the second half of the season.
“Jurgen already has a prolific goal record with PSV in the Dutch top division and it is one we hope he can continue here with us in the Premier League.”
Alas, after that early promise other goals were few and far between and a perceived lack of effort together with going public about not wanting to head the ball as well as a seemingly greater enthusiasm for being a DJ and producing house music didn’t endear him to Albion fans.
Born in Emmen in the Netherlands on 7 November 1993, Locadia was only five years old when he got his first taste of football with youth side VV Bargeres.
Spotted by local side FC Emmen, he rose through their ranks and had his first international call-up for the Dutch under-15s.
Tilburg-based Willem II took him on for the 2009-10 season and in June 2010 he joined PSV Eindhoven, where he remained for seven seasons, making 176 appearances, including 118 starts, scoring 62 goals and adding 39 assists across all competitions.
After scoring two hat-tricks in his first dozen games, in May 2014 the Sky Sports Scout feature profiled what it described as “one of the most exciting talents we have seen in recent times”.
Introduced to the first team squad during Advocaat’s reign, the article noted: “The 6ft 3in striker looks to have everything in his locker to take him to the top of the game. Similar in stature to somebody like Patrick Kluivert – it would be very easy to make comparisons between Locadia and the Dutch striking legend.
“Perhaps slightly quicker than Kluivert, it is clear Locadia’s main attribute is his eye for goal – he is happiest in the box. But he is anything but a goal poacher. Two good feet, he is capable of holding the ball up and he is also a real danger when playing off the last defender. All in all, he is a top, top prospect.”
A title winner at PSV Eindhoven
Locadia was part of the PSV side that won the 2015-16 and 2017-18 Eredivisie championships as well as consecutive Dutch Super Cups in 2016 and 2017. He also made a combined 30 appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches.
In less than a year at Brighton, there were already rumblings of discontent which Hughton was questioned about.
While away on international duty, Locadia had told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf of his frustrations at a lack of game time claiming he had not had the chance “to show what I am worth”.
Hughton said the player’s comments were “taken out of proportion” but admitted: “That doesn’t escape the fact that he would like to play more. We expect every player that is not playing so much to think the exact same way.
“I have no problems with his views. He is a very good individual, he trains well and the most important thing is he is very motivated to play here.”
In action in Potter’s first match against Watford
Hughton’s successor Graham Potter had not long been in the hot seat before sanctioning loans for the Dutchman: to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and Cincinnati in the MLS.
Yet Potter still seemed to hold out hope that Locadia might turn a corner in an Albion shirt. After reintroducing him to the squad in September 2021, the head coach told a fans forum: “Obviously, he has got an opportunity to show what he can do, he has got talent, he has got ability.
“Things have not quite worked out how he would have liked since he has been here. He has got to knuckle down and show what he can do because there is a player there.”
He made his first Brighton appearance in over two years on 22 September 2021, going on as a 76th-minute substitute for double goalscorer Aaron Connolly in a 2–0 home third round League Cup win over Swansea. In the next round, away to Leicester City, he started in the 2-2 draw when the home side went through 4-2 on penalties.
Three days later, he was an unused substitute in a 2–2 away league draw at Liverpool and his final appearance in the stripes was as a 68th-minute substitute for misfiring Neal Maupay in a home 0-0 draw against Leeds United in November when, according to wearebrighton.com, a loose ball fell invitingly to him on the edge of the penalty area but he fell over his own leg when attempting a shot.
A free transfer to Bochum
Early into the new year, Albion cut their losses and gave the player a free transfer to German side Bochum, Potter telling the club website: “Jurgen is keen to play, and Bochum provides him that opportunity, and the possibility to reinvigorate his career in the Bundesliga, where he has previously enjoyed success with Hoffenheim.”
After just half a season in Germany, his next stop was Persepolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League. But he left Iran in December 2022 amid security concerns after the Dutch government warned its nationals not to remain in the country. There had been nationwide protests in Iran in the previous three months and other European countries like Germany, France and Belgium had also urged their citizens to leave Iran.
Locadia’s next destination was China and he scored seven goals in 23 appearances for Cangzhou Mighty Lions in the Chinese Super League.
From there he moved to Spain and played for Basque side SD Amorebieta, a second-tier side, but, after their relegation, in June 2024 The Sun was reporting he was about to join his fifth club in two years, Alicante-based third division side Intercity.
He scored 10 goals in 24 appearances before heading back to the States in December 2025 to sign for Miami.
