Tag: Cole Palmer

Lack of starts plagues Championship promotion winner Jeremy Sarmiento

ECUADORIAN international Jeremy Sarmiento probably has splinters in his backside the number of times he’s sat on benches waiting for involvement in games.

He might also be excused for forgetting which language he should be speaking. Born in Spain of Ecuadorian parents (Lionel and Katty), raised in London, three years in Portugal, back to the UK – south coast, Midlands, East Anglia and north west – and now Italy.

Impressive enough in his first season with the Seagulls to be voted the club’s Young Player of the Year, injuries, managerial change and increased competition for a starting spot appear to have shunted him out of the Brighton picture, possibly permanently.

He’s twice helped clubs win promotion from the Championship while out on loan and he’s now on his fourth long temporary move away from the club with the first two Albion head coaches he worked under, who both spoke highly of him, having gone on to pastures new.

Graham Potter, who gave him his first team debut in 2021, said of him: “He’s got a real quality to receive the ball and play forwards; play in tight areas; the courage to take it pretty much anywhere and he can affect the goal with runs behind and finishes, so he’s a really exciting talent.”

In June 2023, after a season in which Sarmiento’s involvement was cut short when he fractured a metatarsal bone in his right foot during a 3-1 friendly defeat for Ecuador in Australia, Roberto De Zerbi said: “Jeremy is a great guy and a very good player. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play in the last part of the season because of his injury, but we expect him to be a very important player for us in the coming years.”

That proved, initially at least, to be a somewhat hollow assessment because he spent the whole of the 2023-24 season on loan in the Championship, initially with West Brom and in the second half of the campaign as part of Ipswich Town’s promotion-winning squad, where he made seven starts and 15 sub appearances under Kieran McKenna.

On joining the Tractor Boys, Sarmiento declared: “I’m excited to try and show him (McKenna)  what I can do and earn minutes in a team which plays a style I think will suit me. 

“I am a direct player and like to get the fans on their feet with a bit of flair, which is a big side to my game, and I can’t wait to get started.” 

In May 2024, De Zerbi was a little more cautious with his words. “I followed him. I watched many games,” said the Italian. “He didn’t play so many games in the first XI but he was important for Ipswich. In West Bromwich the same, I think.

“He needs to play in a different context. He can play no.10, he can play winger but he has to play a particular type of football. Ipswich and West Bromwich played in a good style. He can be important next season, but we have to analyse the squad.”

In action for Ecuador

As we know now, it was De Zerbi who left the club first and that summer Sarmiento helped Ecuador reach the quarter-finals of the Copa America. He eschewed a break on his return so he could go on Albion’s pre-season tour of Japan to try to impress new head coach Fabian Hurzeler.

He scored in a 5-1 win over Kashima Antlers and told the club website: “After the Copa America finished, I spoke to the gaffer and he gave me an option of whether I wanted to go on tour with the lads or come back after that.

“Obviously, I was so keen to come back and show people what I have been doing in the past year for Ipswich and at the Copa America.

“I am full of confidence right now and I just want to bring all here now and show the boss.

Japan tour happiness

“I think I have matured as a player throughout the year. More game time, which is what I was looking for. I was involved in goals and assists, which is part of my game I wanted to improve.

“Now I have scored again and it feels good to be back with a goal.”

He was an 82nd minute sub in Albion’s opening day 3-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park, and he scored in the home Carabao Cup second round 4-0 win over Crawley Town. 

But he was off on his travels again a few days later, joining Scott Parker’s Burnley on a season-long loan.

Hurzeler said: “Jeremy has worked hard across pre-season and done very well in the games he’s played for us, including at Everton and against Crawley.

“His attitude has been first class and this will benefit him for the season ahead with Burnley, which we will be watching with great interest.”

On making the move, Sarmiento said: “I’m really excited, it was a big decision, as the next step was really important for me.

“I felt that the project Burnley are building at the moment suited me and I spoke with the manager, and I just wanted to be a part of it.

“Once we had the conversations, it was a no brainer for me to come here and come and achieve the objectives we have set.”

The tale of his season followed a somewhat familiar pattern; most of his appearances – 24 – were from the bench and he only started 13 matches as Burnley earned promotion in second place.

Sarmiento celebrates at Loftus Road

The Clarets’ final away game of the season was a personal highlight for him when he went on as a second half sub and scored twice in a 5-0 victory over QPR at Loftus Road.

“It was an amazing way to close our second to last game of the season,” he said. “It’s all down to the guys; without them I wouldn’t be in the situation to score the goals. But I’m really delighted. It’s been a tough season on a personal note but I’m very happy for the guys.

“I’m always trying my best to push the guys on harder, then training. So, it’s all a nice thing, I’ll always remember this game. The guys made it very special for me today.”

Born in Madrid on 16 June 2002, Sarmiento has never really settled anywhere for any great length of time. His footballing career began as a right-back while still in Spain but when the family moved to England, when he was seven, he was converted into an attacking player by Sunday League junior side Peckham All-Stars.

Charlton Athletic spotted him and he spent nine years with the south east London side’s academy, during which time he earned various England youth call-ups, before moving to Benfica aged 16 in 2018.

Described by Charlton Academy boss Steve Avory as “an exciting player, a wide forward rather than a winger”, Sarmiento played for Ecuador’s under-15s before representing England’s under-16s and under-17s.

Sarmiento with Young England

He was part of England’s squad alongside Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and James Trafford, as well as Albion’s Haydon Roberts and Teddy Jenks, at the 2019 men’s under-17 European Championships in Ireland. Jensen Weir, who later joined Brighton, and Morgan Rogers were also in the 20-man squad.

Substitute Sarmiento scored England’s third in their 3-1 Group B win over Sweden (Jenks and Arsenal’s Sam Greenwood got the others). Georginio Rutter was in the French side that drew 1-1 with England (but England didn’t get past the group stage) and scored as France beat Sweden 4-2. The Netherlands won the tournament beating Italy 4-2 in the final in Dublin.

In October 2019, Sarmiento had stepped up to England’s under-18s and scored (along with Wigan’s Joe Gelhardt and Valencia’s Yunus Musah) – once again after going on as a substitute – as Ian Foster’s Young Lions, who had previously turned over the U19 sides of Poland and Slovakia, beat Austria 3-2.

Sarmiento chose to revert to Ecuador at full international level and has won more than 20 caps.

Although he shone for Benfica’s under-17s and under-19s, there was a sour end to his time in Portugal when there was a dispute about signing a new contract.

Andy Naylor spoke to the player’s father, Lionel, for The Athletic in March 2022 and learned: “The negotiations between us and Benfica were not 100 per cent good. We’d have had to sign for five years. What about if it hadn’t worked out? And what they offered wasn’t enough even to survive. That’s why we said, ‘Sorry, no’.

“It’s a good academy but I feel like they have a bad philosophy. If you don’t do whatever they say — ‘bye bye’.

“It was a bad time. From then, we started to train privately, every day, in parks, on Astroturf.”

Brighton already had Sarmiento on their radar when he was at Charlton and wanted to sign him in the January 2021 transfer window but Benfica refused. He had to wait until his deal expired that summer.

Sarmiento Senior told Naylor there was interest in his son from the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Valencia but he wanted to return to England because it was where he grew up, and he missed it.

Initially introduced by Brighton as an under-23s signing, he was quickly elevated to the first team squad and made his debut in September 2021 as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 win over Championship side Swansea in the Carabao Cup. His first start was a month later, in the same competition, when Albion went out on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Leicester.

Although a mistake he made led to a Foxes goal, and he was withdrawn on 69 minutes, Potter was full of praise for Sarmiento’s baptism at the King Power Stadium, telling reporters: “I thought his performance was really positive. Some of his actions were at an incredibly high level.”

Unfortunately, just 12 minutes into his Premier League debut against West Ham in December 2021, he pulled up with a hamstring issue. Surgery sidelined him from Potter’s side for almost four months.

His father told The Athletic: “It was nothing compared to other kinds of injuries. It was a terrible night because we were expecting him to shine. He was ready. He’s come back again, slowly, slowly.

 “Psychologically, he’s very strong. After Benfica, I don’t know if another player could be like this. Jeremy is ready to continue his career — humble, disciplined and with respect to everyone.”

He signed a new four-year contract with the Albion in January 2022 and saw action as a sub against Norwich, Manchester City and Southampton as the 2021-22 season came to a close.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Sarmiento was one of three Albion players in the Ecuador squad (Moises Caicedo and Pervis Estupinan were the others) and he went on as a sub in all three of his side’s games. 

He was still only 20 when De Zerbi took charge of the Albion and after twice going on as a sub in the Premier League and then starting in the November 2022 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over Arsenal, he said: “It’s great playing under him. He’s giving opportunities to the younger guys and at the same time he is very demanding.

A delighted Sarmiento at Arsenal with goalscorer Karou Mitoma

“It’s clear what he wants us to do on the pitch, but he gives the young guys the confidence to keep pushing for a place in the starting 11 in the Premier League.”

Having set up Kaoru Mitoma for Albion’s second goal at the Emirates, Sarmiento added: “I can play on the left and right, it’s not a problem for me – I got on the ball and got an assist. Since I was young, I’ve played in a few positions, as long as Roberto is happy, I am happy.”

Sarmiento was in the starting line-up for Brighton’s first Premier League game of 2023, on 3 January, when he helped set up Evan Ferguson’s goal in the 4–1 away win at Everton.

At Bournemouth a month later, he went on as a sub and helped set up Mitoma’s 87th-minute winner, the only goal of the game.

Arguably Sarmiento’s main problem at Brighton has been competition for the position he’s best suited to, whether wide right or left or as a no.10.

In the summer of 2025, there were reports that Albion had done a deal to sell him to Brazilian side Cruzeiro but the player wanted to remain in Europe and although it appears the club were happy to part ways, even though he has a contract until June 2027, his departure to Serie A club Cremonese turned out to be another season-long loan.

Even so, if a November 2025 interview the player gave to a local TV programme that covers Cremonese is anything to go by, it sounds like the move could well be converted into a one-way ticket.

“If you look at the places I’ve been, I’ve already travelled a lot,” he told CR1’s ‘Il Grigio e il Rosso’ show. “This is my current challenge. I have to face it, and I hope to become a better player here and show people what I’m capable of. This can become my home.”

Playing in the same side as goalscoring veteran Jamie Vardy, Sarmiento spoke about how he’s enjoying playing under coach Davide Nicola and likened it to his Albion experience under De Zerbi.

“I worked with him for a season at Brighton. He’s a great man on and off the pitch, very similar to coach Nicola, especially in character. I like their passion for success and their desire to win.

“They work day after day to bring out the best in their players. It’s a great opportunity for me to have coaches like that and work under their guidance.”

Indicating he has settled into life in Cremona, he also spoke about enjoying learning the ropes of a new position in the team.

“It’s very different for me, because last season and the season before that I played as a winger, so it’s different playing as a central midfielder or a second striker. 

“But I’m working day after day to improve in this position, gaining confidence with the staff and my teammates.”

Cucurella a Euros winner despite the boos backdrop 

MARC CUCURELLA has got used to going from hero to zero in the eyes of fickle football fans.

A revelation in his one and only season playing for Brighton, he scored a stunning goal in a 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United and was crowned both Players’ Player and Player of the Season.

But he pushed for a transfer only one year into a five-year contract and, although he didn’t get his hoped-for move to Manchester City, joined Chelsea for £62m.

While his first few months at Stamford Bridge were tough on and off the pitch, he finished the season as a regular in Mauricio Pochettino’s side and then went on to bigger and better things for his country.

He became a cult hero for his impressive performances at left-back during Spain’s winning run to claim the European Championship in July.

Euro winners: Cucurella with Nico Williams

Capping an excellent tournament by supplying the inch-perfect pass for Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner, Cucurella was justified in having a dig at pundit Gary Neville who’d previously said the defender was “probably one of the reasons why Spain could not go all the way” in the tournament.

“We went all the way, Gary. Thanks for your support,” was Cucurella’s social media retort after the 2-1 win over England rounded off a tournament that he might not have been involved in if Valencia’s Jose Gaya and Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde hadn’t been injured.

The left-back with the “massive” hair also let his feet do the talking in response to German fans who booed his every touch of the ball in the semi-final and final because they reckoned he was guilty of a handball in the penalty area against the host nation but a penalty wasn’t given.

“I did not care too much, but at the same time, it felt a bit sad that some people came to that game just to boo a single player,” Cucurella told The Athletic. “Some people wasted tickets that could have gone to fans who would have really enjoyed the match.”

But, he pointed out, it wasn’t a new experience because Brighton fans, angered by the manner of his big money departure from the club after only one season, reacted similarly when he returned to the Amex playing for Chelsea.

“It was another night when the boos were really loud every time I touched the ball, so I got used to it,” he said. “The first time I went through this… I won’t say it’s an unbearable feeling but it’s unpleasant. Now I’m more used to it.”

Some players move on stylishly, others go about it in what is perceived to be the wrong way – thus incurring the opprobrium of supporters who remain loyal to the club.

A sizeable enough contingent of Albion fans were aggrieved by the manner of Cucurella’s departure from the club to vent spleen whenever he touched the ball as a Chelsea player back at the Amex.

It was a toss-up between Cucurella and Graham Potter as to who was the bigger pantomime villain when Chelsea were thumped 4-1 at Falmer in October 2022. “The Spaniard was booed and jeered relentlessly for over an hour on his first game at Brighton since his transfer,” The Athletic noted.

The online sports news outlet continued: “According to Whoscored, Cucurella’s defensive output included no tackles, no interceptions and just one clearance.”

They noted it was the fourth time in five starts that Cucurella had been taken off early, and said: “This change would have hurt the most. The taunts grew louder as he made his way off the pitch and the look on his face spoke volumes.”

Things might not have been going well for him at the time, but Potter was not unduly concerned and said: “He’s a resilient character, he’s a really good person. Sometimes when you move clubs it goes really well, and sometimes it can be a little bit of an up-and-down period. Marc’s a little bit up and down but he’s a top player and he will show his quality.”

Cucurella was an unused sub when Albion clinched the double over the Londoners that season with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge. But the next time he faced his old teammates, he demonstrated a level of commitment that in some quarters earned him the man of the match accolade.

When Potter’s successor Mauricio Pochettino selected him at right-back in the Carabao Cup against Brighton in September 2023, previously critical Chelsea supporters couldn’t believe what they saw as the home side edged the match 1-0. One said: “Pocketed Mitoma and Joao Pedro . What a shift for him.”

Agreeing he was ‘man of the match’, another said: “Cucurella was absolutely brilliant in that second half, playing that well at right-back was not something that I expected, fair play to him, maybe he should be given more opportunities.”

Arguably, he answered Brighton supporters’ criticism even more effectively – in a similar style to what he did in the Euros final v England – on 15 May 2024 at the Amex when his pinpoint cross in the 34th minute was comprehensively buried in the back of Albion’s net by Cole Palmer’s head.

But let’s remember a much happier time, when the Spaniard was the toast of the Albion faithful with a quite magnificent contribution to that 4-0 thumping of Manchester United.

Muhammad Butt on squawka.com positively purred about Cucurella’s performance declaring his man of the match accolade as “a richly deserved reward for a player who could truly ascend to any height in the world game”.

The writer’s colourful report observed:“What Cucurella did to poor Diogo Dalot all afternoon recalled The Avengers when Hulk whipped Loki around like a caveman trying to dry a wet sock on some rocks.

“Cucurella has the instantly iconic look of a comic book hero, a wiry frame with a face that is all prominent eyebrows and colossal curly hair giving him an instantly iconic silhouette.

“And he plays with the kind of ceaseless energy that one would attribute to those spandex-adorned heroes for whom stamina never seems to be an issue.”

Warming to his theme, Butt continued: “Cucurella grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and was the dominant force on the pitch. Even when he played no part in the goals, the overall pressure that was weighing on United and keeping them pinned back in their own half was born of the Catalan’s drive and determination.

‘Such was Cucurella’s power against United that when he scored Brighton’s second goal, arriving late in the box like some left-sided Frank Lampard to lash the ball home violently at the near-post leaving David de Gea in the early stages of a Bee Gees tribute dance, it wasn’t even surprising. It made perfect sense, as though he had been doing it all season when, in fact, it was his first goal of the campaign.”

Sadly for Brighton fans, that showing seemed to be like an audition for a bigger and better stage and he had only two more matches in Albion’s colours.

Born in the Catalan village of Allela on 22 July 1998, he played futsal with his local club before linking up with the junior sides of Espanyol, where he was made captain. From there, at the age of 14, he joined Catalan giants Barcelona in 201

A rare appearance for Barcelona

“Barcelona were always my team,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “I liked the style of play and the big players the club always attracted.”

He went on: “For me to join such a special club, at such a special time in its history, was a proud moment for my family.”

He made his debut for the club’s B team at the age of 18 but also had the chance to train with the stars of the first team.

“While I was still in the academy, I would sometimes train with Messi or Neymar, which was really exciting,” he said. “I’d train with Busquets, Jordi Alba, sometimes Suarez, and it was scary the first time I stepped up.

“I was very nervous, training alongside players I’d only seen on TV or on the PlayStation, but these are the moments you remember for the rest of your life.”

He only made one brief substitute appearance for the Barcelona first team, going on for Lucas Digne in a 3-0 Copa del Rey win at Real Murcia in October 2017, and he said: “It was a very nice moment for me but it was a shame I never got to play for the team at Camp Nou.”

Cucurella got to play in La Liga on loan at Eibar (in 2018-19) and Getafe (in 2019-2020) before moving permanently to Getafe for the 2020-21 season.

When Albion signed him, fellow former Barca B graduate and ex-Albion midfielder Andrea Orlandi, now a TV pundit, told the Albion matchday programme: “Marc is a super-energetic player whose main assets are his energy, attitude and intensity.

“He was in the top three in every physical study in La Liga for the last three seasons and can’t play without giving it 100 per cent. He has the perfect attributes to be a success in the Premier League.”

Perhaps it should be no surprise that he shone for Spain at the 2024 Euros because he had been selected by his country at almost every age group level and won a silver medal as part of the under-23 side at the 2020 Olympic Games.

His first senior appearance was in a friendly against Lithuania in June 2021 when he captained the side to a 4-0 win. A second cap followed in a 3-3 draw with Brazil at the Bernabeu in Madrid in March 2024. The run through to the final took his caps tally to 10.

In an in-depth interview with Pol Ballus for The Athletic in July 2024, Cucurella opened up on the turbulence he had suffered after making the move to Chelsea. “Until the summer of 2022, my football career had been great: a constant progression, always upwards with no setbacks. Then I arrived at a club where the expectations were so, so high.

“Until then, I had played at clubs where every victory felt really special, where every point is celebrated. Then you go to Chelsea, where you win a game because that’s what you have to do. There is no time to chill or enjoy.”

Not only was managerial change disruptive, things didn’t go well for him off the field. “I spent the first two months living in a hotel with my family, then soon after we found a place to live we had thieves breaking into our home. After this, I spent two days hospitalised for a virus. I lost a lot of weight and had to start from scratch to get in shape again. It wasn’t easy to come back. The team couldn’t find their way on the pitch, either.”

Cucurella said fans had expectations of him because of the size of the fee Chelsea played Brighton but he pointed out: “People expect that, with certain price tags, you need to be a machine. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand that we are normal people who have our own problems off the pitch. We have worse and better phases in our lives.”

He worked with a psychologist to try to help him through his struggles, admitting: “Confidence is the most important thing. You miss it when you struggle, but it flows when you thrive. I’ve worked a lot on this, to stabilise those moments.”

Certain he could improve, he knuckled down in training and eventually seized his chance when it was given.

Towards the end of the 2023-24 season, Pochettino tinkered with Chelsea’s formation and successfully deployed Cucurella in a midfield role, drawing praise from observers such as Nick Purewal in The Standard, who said: “Cucurella’s ability in possession, to act as an auxiliary pivot and progress the ball has transformed Chelsea.”

The player himself had some fun on social media in the summer (right) when, with a nod to the chant Brighton fans conjured up during his time at the Amex, he filmed himself with a bottle of Estrella and sang the song… “he drinks Estrella, eats paella…” but his normally “massive” hair was neatly matted down!