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.”
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.
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.
MARKUS SUTTNER joined Albion only 12 days after his FC Ingolstadt teammate Pascal Gross but to say their fortunes went in different directions would be an understatement.
Gross established himself as a club legend and, although Austrian international Suttner started at left-back as Brighton made their bow in the Premier League, he ultimately played second fiddle to Cameroon international Gaetan Bong in that position.
Albion fans were divided on who was the better option; Suttner was often lauded for the accuracy of his crossing while Bong was viewed as a more aggressive wing back.
Suttner said of himself: “I’m a left-back who can cross and shoot; I have a good left foot for the set-pieces and corners, and I can also help the team with my passion and experience. I want to lead on the pitch.
“I’m a player who worked hard to get to the Bundesliga and I have worked hard again to get this opportunity in the Premier League.
“I want to experience the players and the stadiums here, but most of all I want to have success with Brighton and help us stay in the league.”
Having just turned 30 when he signed for the Seagulls, Suttner added: “At this stage of my career, at my age, it’s the perfect time to play in the Premier League.
“The challenge for Brighton is similar to the one I first encountered with Ingolstadt, with the side having won promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history when I signed.
“Now, this is a new chapter for me and for the club, and to play in the Premier League is one of the best options for any player, so I’m very happy to be here.”
On the ball for ‘The Violet’
Suttner didn’t have far to travel to link up with his teammates after putting pen to paper in the summer of 2017 – Albion were on a pre-season training camp in Austria at the time, in the Alpine resort of Leogang, near Salzburg, where they played a pre-season friendly against Suttner’s future employer, Fortuna Dusseldorf.
The player told the matchday programme: “At the end of last season, I heard there was some interest in me from Brighton and then a few weeks later I had signed.
“It’s a dream move for me and a new challenge for me to come to the Premier League.”
Born in Hollabrunn, 36 miles north of Vienna, on 16 April 1987, his early football career was on the books of nearby SK Wullersdorf and after a year at football boarding school Stronach-Akademie he joined Austria Vienna, the club he’d supported as a boy, in 2004.
Suttner at Austria Vienna
His first professional game was in 2005 against Gratkorn and, in seven seasons with The Violet, Suttner made 260 appearances in Austria’s top division during which time he played in the Champions League and the Europa League.
He won seven caps for Austria under 21s and in 2012 won the first of 20 caps for the full international side, in a 3-2 win against Ukraine. Sixteen of his 20 games were friendlies and four were World Cup qualifying matches. His last international saw him play the first half of his country’s 1-1 draw with Finland in Innsbruck, four months before he joined Brighton.
Austrian international recognition
Suttner held the left-back spot for the opening matches of the season, partly benefitting from Bong suffering with a muscle injury.
The Cameroonian, who’d been a promotion winner with the Seagulls, won his place back in the side just before the October international break and told the Argus: “We are different types of players and everyone knows what I can bring from the two years I have been here – I have given everything on the pitch.
“The manager knows that as well, so it was good for me to have 90 minutes on the pitch to help the team and I’m here when the manager needs me.”
Suttner spoke about the rivalry in an exclusive interview with Andy Naylor, then of the Argus, and said: “We have good competition on the left-hand side with Bong and me.
“I think I have done well in my last games but I think I can also improve in the offence, because normally I have a few assists and goals per season. I hope it will come soon.”
Describing the Premier League as “tough, physical and different tactics from Germany”, Suttner added: “Everybody wants to play every game, that’s normal, but we have a good squad with good competition. We have no problem with each other, what’s best for the team is best for us.”
Expanding on the issues he was trying to overome, he said in a programme interview: “Obviously it’s a different kind of football to what I’ve been used to, and a different country and culture, so I’ve needed time to adapt.
“But I’m getting stronger and stronger and every day I feel you can learn something, in both training sessions and games.”
“I just want to go out and do my best, show my strength in attack but obviously make sure my defensive duties always come first.”
However, after the halfway point of the season, Bong got the shirt on more occasions than the Austrian; Suttner returned for FA Cup ties against Coventry City and Manchester United.
By the season’s end, Suttner had made just 16 league and cup starts plus one appearance off the bench. And his chances of reclaiming the shirt the following season dipped further when, in the summer, Brighton signed Brazilian ex-Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull Leipzig defender Bernardo.
Now third-choice, Suttner made just one first team appearance, in a 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Southampton at the Amex in August, and, in the second half of the 2018-19 season, he returned to Germany on a half-season loan to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Hughton said: “Markus has been a great pro since he joined us two summers ago, but he hasn’t been able to play the number of games he would have liked, due to the strong competition we have in the left-back position.
“This move will allow him to play regular football in the top division of the Bundesliga.”
Suttner said in an interview with Austrian online sports outlet Laola1.at: “They (Albion) already told me that it will be difficult for me. But after my son was born in September, I did not want to change in the summer – that would have been too much stress. The family comes first!
“From the summer it was clear that I am only third choice in the left-back position. Gaetan Bong played at the end of the season and was in the lead, so he was number two.
“After that I never really got a chance any more. That’s the way football is. I do not regret the move to Brighton, I played Premier League. It’s part of the business that a few players are always exchanged – now it’s just me.”
Suttner in action for Fortuna Dusseldorf
On his return to Brighton for pre-season training after playing six games on loan at Fortuna, a new head coach was in place in Graham Potter. Nevertheless, Suttner didn’t kick a ball in anger under the new man, and instead completed a permanent move to the Dusseldorf club.
Potter said: “Markus has trained exceptionally hard and been a pleasure to work with during my time here, but this move gives him a chance to play regularly.
“He will be returning to a team that he knows well, and it is a move that makes sense for all three parties.”
Suttner certainly found plenty of admirers at Fortuna having helped them climb out of relegation trouble to finish 10th in the table. Coach Friedhelm Funkel told the Rheinische Post: “Markus is a top-class footballer and a wonderful person.”
After a season with Fortuna, Suttner returned to Austria Vienna and saw out his playing days making 57 appearances between 2020 and 2022.
Reflecting on a career spanning 17 years, Suttner told the Austria Vienna website: “I am happy to have been able to do this unique job over such a long period of time. I’ll soon be 35 and come out of my career injury-free, which is worth a lot to me. I also don’t want to stand in the way of our young guns. I still feel physically fit, but the anticipation of the new phase of my life is too great.”
Coach Manfred Schmid paid tribute to the player, saying: “His attitude to the sport has made him a leader at each of his stations and he has always been able to demonstrate his qualities. Above all, however, he has grown on me as a person.”
Sporting director Manuel Ortlechner added:“Markus Suttner was and is an absolute leader, and he still proves that every day. He has put his bones on the line for Austria for many years and more than deserves to hang up his boots in the summer.
“After his return, he helped Austria to turn the tide and improve its sporting performance and image. It’s a self-determined end to his career, and you can only take your hat off to that.”
Suttner playing for his country up against Gareth Bale of Wales
LEVI COLWILL had a turbulent beginning to his season-long loan at Brighton but emerged grateful for the experience which developed his undoubted talent as a ball-playing defender.
After only one training session with his Albion teammates, the Chelsea loanee was sent on as a sub in the dying minutes of the 2022-23 season opening day 2-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
“It was a surreal experience,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to come on because I had just arrived, I wouldn’t have put me on if I was the manager!”
That manager was Graham Potter of who Colwill said: “Graham has watched me play, so he knows what I am about. I have watched Brighton quite a few times so I know how they like to approach games. I understand the football.
“It suits me and compliments how I play. The gaffer said to me ‘Come in and play your own game and you’ll be fine’. I trust him and that’s a big reason why I came here.”
Colwill picks up his Albion shirt
However, within a few short weeks, there was a new man calling the shots and the young defender initially found it difficult to work with him.
Colwill admitted in one interview: “We didn’t get on at first. He broke me, broke my character. But then he built me up again and he’s like a father figure to me now. He’s amazing.”
In an interview with Andy Naylor of The Athletic, he explained: “It’s been tough because he (De Zerbi) plays a lot different to what I’ve been used to. But he’s a great manager, the way he plays will help everyone in the team look so good. I’m happy to play under him.
“As a centre-half, he expects a lot more from you, taking time on the ball, finding the right pass, being in control of the game. It’s a lot different, for example, to when Graham was here. It’s more pass, pass. But you’ve got to learn. It’s only going to help me when I’m older.”
After making his first Premier League start in a home defeat to Aston Villa, Colwill confessed:
“It’s been tough so far, but I’ve enjoyed every minute. The tough aspect has been learning new playing styles, a new manager coming in, things like that. But it’s going to help me in the future so I can’t complain.
“Once you get your head around how the new manager wants to play, it helps you understand why he does it and how it works. You’ve got to respect it.”
Colwill was also grateful to skipper Lewis Dunk, saying in a matchday programme interview: “Dunky guides me every day and he’s always giving me advice, both on and off the pitch. His presence alone helps me so much, playing alongside him.”
He added: “In games you get to see just how good he is and all the attributes he has. He should have definitely played for England a few more times because he’s a great player.”
After making 17 starts and five sub appearances as Albion finished in their highest-ever sixth spot in the Premier League, Colwill reflected in a BBC Sport interview: “It was an amazing year. I learnt so much as a player, a man.
“It was tough for me every single day but I I’m so happy for everything I went through. Ups and downs, I’ve learnt so much as a person and a player and I’m just grateful for that opportunity.”
He said playing under De Zerbi was different to most other managers he’d played under.
“It was perfect for me because you’re on the ball,” he explained. “As a defender, you start the attack and that’s what I want to be seen as and I really enjoyed it.
“He definitely gives you confidence all the time. He’s always telling you how good a player you are, but when you step on that pitch you’re just like everyone else, no matter how good you are.
“He’s there to make you work, for that hour or two hours you are on the pitch. You’re there to work and learn. He wants the best. He’s a perfectionist and I think that’s why Brighton did so well last season.”
De Zerbi was a great admirer of the England under 21 international, explaining: “Levi is a left-footer and it is an important quality for us because with Levi we can find different line passes, different solutions in the build-up, in the last 40 metres.”
Sadly, Albion’s qualification for European football wasn’t enough to tempt Colwill to stay and he returned to Chelsea and signed a new six-year contract. Before long, he followed up his Euro Under 21 Championship success with young England that summer with a full England cap, making his debut in a friendly against Australia that October.
Two months later, Colwill scored his first Chelsea goal …against Brighton! Although Conor Gallagher saw red that day, the 10-man home side held out to win 3-2 at Stamford Bridge. Albion’s two goals came from players who also went on to wear Chelsea blue: Facundo Buonanotte and Joao Pedro!
Born in Southampton on 26 February 2003, by his own admission in a July 2025 interview with The Athletic, he said: “Football is all I know. I grew up as an underprivileged kid.”
It has prompted him to put money into Southern League Premier South side Sholing FC, who he used to watch as a youngster. “I came to Sholing FC games and enjoyed them,” he told Simon Johnson. “It made me happy and made me want to become a footballer.
Interviewed at a pre-season game between Sholing and a team of Chelsea youngsters, he said: “It’s not just about Sholing FC. I want to help as many underprivileged kids as possible.
“If I can help bring a load of kids to come down to an event like this, to enjoy being here, to fall in love with the game, that can change their lives. They can perhaps do something else rather than being on the streets. That’s the main reason.”
He continued: “I also did something when I was on holiday in Trinidad. I organised a training session out there with some kids who were all from my grandma’s local area.
“My nan flew out with me. A few hundred people turned up. We bought the goals and so on out of my back pocket, just to give them something else to enjoy. Doing this drives me. I want to leave a legacy and have people be proud of me.”
The eight-year-old Colwill was playing for Sunday team City Central FC alongside Jamal Musiala (now at Bayern Munich) when the pair were picked up by Chelsea. “He was definitely one of my best friends,” Colwill told goal.com. “We went up together for our Chelsea trial. We have just done everything together.
“We keep in touch still now and he is a good mate. It is amazing to see what he has achieved so far.”
Colwill worked his way through the different age groups at Chelsea and signed his first professional contract aged 17. He spent the 2021-22 season on loan to Huddersfield Town in the Championship and was unlucky enough to score an own goal – the only goal of the game – as the Terriers lost to Nottingham Forest in the play-off final at Wembley.
Having played 75 Premier League games for Chelsea and helped them qualify for the 2025-26 Champions League, he played in the FIFA Club World Cup in America in the summer of 2025 when Chelsea beat PSG 3-0 in the final.
But the following month, his knee gave way towards the end of Chelsea’s first pre-season training session at Cobham and a scan confirmed he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament, which ruled him out for seven months of the 2025-26 season. At the time of writing, although he had resumed training, no date had been set for him to return to first team action.
Writing about the setback for The Athletic, Liam Twomey said: “Colwill’s unflappable assurance was critical to the team’s success in playing out from the back through intense pressure.
“Put together, it is a rare, coveted skill set for a centre-back, which is why Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion tried hard to prise Colwill away from Stamford Bridge in the weeks before he signed a new long-term contract in the summer of 2023.
“It is also why Chelsea rebuffed all advances and always insisted they considered him untouchable, as he has been ever since.”
IT’S HARDLY surprising that there are numerous tales to tell from Jimmy Case’s illustrious football career, many of which he told in his autobiography, Hard Case.
Following on from my recent blog post about the all-important blockbuster winner he scored at Anfield for Brighton in the fifth round of the 1983 FA Cup, let’s look in more detail at the impact of his arrival in Sussex in the summer of 1981. It was momentous in many respects.
And, if you’ll indulge me in the parallel that gives this blog its very name, Case’s move from Liverpool to Brighton bore a remarkable similarity to Adam Lallana’s 2020 move in the same direction in terms of the Seagulls capturing an influential trophy-winner whose experience took them to a new level.
Case scored 46 goals in 269 appearances across six years at Liverpool and left with four League title winners’ medals, three European Cup winners’ medals plus one each for winning the UEFA Cup, European Super Cup and the League Cup.
This 2021 article highlights the impressive array of medals Case collected in his career
Lallana scored 22 in 178 matches and collected one League title medal, and others for winning the Champions League, European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Unlike Case, Lallana also won 34 England caps.
In the season following Case’s signing, Brighton finished in a highest-ever 13th place in the top division under Mike Bailey in 1982, a feat only bettered by the ninth-place finish under Graham Potter 40 years later and even better sixth spot under Roberto De Zerbi in 2023.
I first wrote about Case’s time with Brighton in a 2017 blog post but his story is well worthy of re-telling, particularly with updates from more recent interviews he’s given.
Back in 1981, as Spencer Vignes said in a matchday programme article, perhaps with a little journalistic licence: “When 27-year-old Jimmy swapped Anfield for the Goldstone, the effect on Sussex was seismic. For here was a Liverpool legend, famous for his ferocious shot and no-nonsense approach to the game.”
Listing those medals he’d won, Vignes continued: “The fact that this man wanted to play for the Albion blew the fans away.”
The truth was that Case didn’t really want to leave Liverpool but some of his off-field antics involving drink had not gone down well with the Anfield management and Sammy Lee was emerging as his replacement.
“There was something of a drinking culture at Liverpool in those days,” Case admitted in an interview with lfchistory.net. “Ray Kennedy and me were usually at the heart of it, along with Terry McDermott, Phil Thompson, Emlyn (Hughes) and Smithy (Tommy Smith) – everyone, really.
“The coaches knew all about the drinking – it went on at all the clubs – and my thinking was that because we trained all week, played a hard game on a Saturday, to go out and have a few drinks afterwards was something we had earned. In my view, we were just letting our hair down a bit, but the club in those days didn’t like that type of thing. I wasn’t looking to leave at all but suppose they must have thought I was a bit of a bad lad.”
Case nets for Liverpool in a European tie
Lee was in the starting line-up for the 1981 European Cup Final win over Real Madrid in Paris and Case had only been involved as a late substitute for Kenny Dalglish.
He could tell he was being edged out when firstly it was suggested he might like to talk to ex-Red John Toshack, who was in charge of Swansea, and then he became aware that Liverpool wanted to sign Albion’s Mark Lawrenson.
“That’s where I got asked to make weight, but I didn’t know it was a makeweight at the time,” he told lfchistory.net. “I didn’t want to go anyway, to be honest, but when you’re asked twice, ‘Do you want to speak to another team?’, it’s another thing. Even though Sammy Lee is a really good friend of mine, I reckon I would have given a good go for the position, put it that way.”
Albion in the meantime had been struggling amongst the elite for two seasons and crowds at the Goldstone had begun to shrink; chairman Mike Bamber was looking for ways to make up the shortfall in income.
Manager Alan Mullery, who’d steered Brighton from the Third Division to the First, had two dilemmas to resolve. He’d made his own arrangement for Lawrenson to move to Man Utd not knowing of Bamber’s plan to sell Lawrenson to Liverpool. Bamber also wanted Mullery to sack his backroom staff as a cost-cutting measure.
It was all too much for Mullery and he quit the club in protest. Ironically, he swapped places with Mike Bailey, who’d just steered Charlton Athletic to promotion from the Third Division to the Second.
So, one of Bailey’s first missions was to welcome Case to the Goldstone and the Scouser admitted to Vignes he “didn’t really want to go to a big club again” and “fancied something different”.
If he felt he had a point prove to Liverpool, he certainly went about it in the right way, scoring in his first appearance against his old club the following October in a 3-3 draw at the Goldstone Ground and then helping the Albion to a 1-0 victory in the Anfield return six months later.
Teammate Gerry Ryan told Vignes: “When he came to Brighton, everyone was amazed. He was an enforcer in the old type of way. He would protect us. If anyone got hit bad then he would seek retribution. But he was also a great footballer.
“Every game Jimmy played, he played to a high standard. He also gave the team an aura. When you saw his name on the team sheet it stood out. It meant something.”
There was a significant ‘changing of the guard’ on his arrival: quite apart from the new manager and loss of the influential Lawrenson, skipper Brian Horton left too along with long-serving Peter O’Sullivan and utility man John Gregory.
But the arrival of tenacious Eire international midfielder Tony Grealish from Luton, experienced Don Shanks, who’d been part of a decent top division QPR squad, and Steve Gatting, who’d played 76 games for Arsenal meant there was no shortage of experience in their place.
Northern Irish international Sammy Nelson moved from Arsenal to take over the left-back spot from Gary Williams and Bailey declared: “The signing of Sammy Nelson has now given me the sort of squad I feel we need to compete with the best in the division.”
Commanding centre half Steve Foster took over as captain from Horton and the emerging Gary Stevens was a young talent who could fill any position in defence. Up front, Mullery signing Michael Robinson was a willing workhorse of a centre-forward who, on Brighton’s relegation in 1983, was sold to Liverpool.
Anyone who had the privilege to watch Case in his prime could testify that thunderbolt strikes from distance were his trademark and one of the best I ever saw was in the 1983 FA Cup semi-final at Highbury when Case smashed it in from 30 yards to give Brighton the lead against Sheffield Wednesday.
Case gets stuck in during a Merseyside derby match
He’d previously scored memorable goals in that trophy-laden career at Liverpool, notably in 1977 scoring one of the great FA Cup final goals, chesting down Joey Jones’s pass on the edge of the box before swivelling to rifle home an equaliser into the top corner against Manchester United, and a left-footed lash in a 1978 European Cup semi-final fightback against Borussia Moenchengladbach at Anfield.
Fascinating, then, to learn that Case had that hard shot from distance at an early age. “Even when I was eight-years-old I was asked to take the goal-kicks because nobody could kick it that far,” he told lfchistory.net.
After the disappointment of relegation from the top flight in 1983, Case remained while others were sold straight away, and some of the new arrivals were grateful for his steadying influence.
Centre-back Eric Young, for example, told the matchday programme: “All the lads were great but Jimmy Case really helped me to settle down. Jimmy is very subtle. He’ll just say a few words to you and it makes all the difference. I appreciated that in those early days.”
With much the same sentiment as Gerry Ryan, Young’s fellow central defender Gary O’Reilly was also a huge Case fan. But Chris Cattlin was obviously under instruction to balance the books and after Foster was sold to Aston Villa, Case was next out the door, along the coast to Southampton. O’Reilly couldn’t believe it.
“We sold Jimmy Case in the March and I nearly took the door off the hinges in Cattlin’s office,” he recalled in a matchday programme article. “I asked him what the hell he was doing selling Jimmy! Were we serious about getting promoted? Were we serious about getting into the play-offs?
“Jimmy went to Southampton and they had success with him in their team in the First Division. It was no surprise. How many European Cup medals does Jimmy have that say ‘winner’? That’s what Jimmy brought to the team here and he was a massive loss when he went.”
Indeed, if it was suspected Case wasn’t the force he once was, because he was 31 when he joined Saints, he ended up hardly missing a game for them, and captained the side, for six seasons.
Cattlin was certainly playing his cards close to his chest as to why Case was sold, and in his matchday programme notes he only obliquely referred to the reason, saying: “Salaries and bonuses of individual players are confidential and obviously I cannot disclose details, but the moves I have made I am certain are right.” And he added: “I can’t explain all the matters that have been considered.”
It wasn’t the last Albion fans would see of Case in their colours, of course, because he returned to the Goldstone Ground aged 39 in December 1993 in the twilight of his playing days, appointed a player-coach under Liam Brady when off-field issues hung gloomily over the club.
On Case’s return to the Albion, he teamed up with other old heads in Colin Pates and Steve Foster
Nevertheless, as a mark of the esteem in which Case was held, a testimonial game for him took place at the Goldstone on 17 October 1994 and it had to be delayed 10 minutes because so many people wanted to get in to pay tribute. The capacity of the grand old ground was much reduced by then but still 15,645 packed in to see Case’s old club Liverpool do him the honour of providing the opposition.
Albion featured Matt Le Tissier in their line-up and even Ryan and Brady made substitute appearances as Liverpool edged it 2-1. An emotional Case said afterwards: “I can’t thank the supporters enough. This was the only game I’ve ever been nervous about. I’ve never really asked for anything from the game, I just wanted everyone to enjoy it.
“It’s all been quite embarrassing really. I like to go to parties, I just don’t like them being my own.”
His last competitive start as an Albion player was in a 2-0 home win over Stockport County on 2 January 1995, and manager Brady said in his programme notes that the player “has an Achilles injury which he will never completely overcome”.
The following season, he twice went on as a sub, and was a non-playing sub on another occasion, but when he went on for Stuart Tuck in a 2-0 Hallowe’en home defeat to Swansea City, that was his last as a player.
Sadly, his last days at the club, having reluctantly taken over the managerial reins from Brady, were tarnished by relegation to the basement division and when Albion’s very existence in the league was under threat, he was replaced by Steve Gritt, who, only by the skin of his teeth, managed to keep Albion up.
BEN WHITE must be one of the best and most successful examples of the way present-day Brighton have evolved.
Picked up for nothing as a teenager after being discarded by Southampton, White’s development was carefully managed in house and on loan at different levels before he broke into the first team, became one of an elite few Albion players to play for England, and was then sold to Arsenal for £50million.
Critics will, of course, say if such talent had been retained the club might now have been punching even higher in the football pyramid.
But, as that veteran Albion watcher Andy Naylor reminded us recently, “hopes and dreams are different from expectations”.
Denied the level of financial clout of, say, nine or 10 clubs in the same division, Albion, as Naylor says “will always be fighting to defy the odds.”
The sale of White was great business for the club – and it didn’t harm their progress. As one who loves a parallel, the season after Mark Lawrenson was sold to Liverpool in 1981, Brighton went on to achieve their highest ever finish (13th) in the top division.
Screenshot
Forty years later, the same – in fact, even better – outcome followed White’s transfer to the Gunners; Albion finished in a highest ever place of ninth under Graham Potter.
And, as if to rub it in, White was in the Arsenal side that lost 2-1 at home to the Seagulls on 9 April 2022 (Enock Mwepu and future Gunner Leandro Trossard the Brighton goalscorers). It was Brighton’s first win in eight games and the win helped to dent Arsenal’s hopes of a top-four finish.
Born in Poole, Dorset, on 8 October 1997, White was in and out of hospital during early childhood owing to an immune disorder that left him with regular bouts of appendicitis, according to an April 2024 Daily Mail article by Sami Mokbel.
He eventually had his appendix removed aged seven but it didn’t stand in the way of his love of playing football from a young age.
“My parents (Barry and Carole) aren’t football fans at all, so they didn’t push me into it,” he told arsenal.com. “But they saw how much I loved it, and they did everything they could to help me.
“I don’t know how I got into it really in the first place, probably just through being with mates, playing in the park or the garden. I can’t remember why, I don’t think there was a particular moment that set me off in football, but I remember loving it from the first time I ever kicked a ball.”
He enjoyed other sports too – tennis, hockey and cricket – but it was his football ability that saw him picked up by Southampton’s academy at the age of eight. He played in age group teams through to the age of 16 as a midfielder, but Saints didn’t offer him a scholarship because of concerns over his lack of strength.
Others obviously saw something, though, because he had trials at Leicester and Bristol City before opting to join Brighton.
“It’s not nice hearing that someone doesn’t want you, but you’ve got to believe in yourself and remember it’s only someone’s opinion that may be right, or may be wrong,” he said.
Albion’s then head of academy player recruitment Mark Anderson spotted White during a trial at the David Beckham Soccer Dome in Greenwich. He played a game on trial against Brentford, and was then taken on, playing as a central defender, on youth terms working under academy boss John Morling and under-23s coach Simon Rusk.
Interviewed by The Athletic in November 2020, Morling explained how White’s pathway to Brighton’s first team was carefully planned and nurtured from the moment the club decided to give him a chance.
“He was technically good, passed the ball well,” said Morling. “He was a good, athletic shape. You knew he had a lot more development from a physical perspective.
“He had growing issues at one point. He was out for a long time. When people grow, they can have problems in their heels, knees or back. He had some back issues.”
White featured regularly for Brighton’s under-18s and under-23s under Rusk, and Morling pointed out: “He was a good learner, a nice personality, a way about him. He worked hard, did lots of extras in his under-18 year, under-23 year. He’d be very modest, but he’d be honest in his opinion of how he played if he didn’t play well. That’s how he is.”
Morling added: “His make-up, personality and modesty comes from his parents and his upbringing. That’s how he is and that is a big positive for young players to learn from.
“You’ve not made it until you’ve made it and the really top players always strive for more on the pitch. They always want to be better and, in their eyes, they’ve never made it. Ben shows that.”
At Brighton, he certainly had a shining example to look up to and he admitted how Lewis Dunk took him under his wing. “When I started at Brighton my goal was to play alongside him,” he said. “He was there from a young age as well, he was just a normal guy, English as well, down to earth, same position and we got on well.
“From him it was more a case of watching what he did every day. He was an example for me to follow. He was someone you look up to and see him training every day. I knew I needed to be at that level.”
Lewis Dunk provided a great example for Whiteto follow
White was still only 18 when Chris Hughton gave him his first team debut in the League Cup in August 2016, a 4-0 home win over Colchester United, and he played in the next round, a 4-2 win over Oxford United. He was also an unused sub for league games.
“He is the type of boy you can’t dislike,” Hughton told Mail Sport. “The type of boy you want to see do well. A quiet lad. Very unassuming.”
Hughton said there was never a question mark about his ability, only what would be his best position – centre-back, right-back or defensive midfield. “Because he was a ball player we knew he would be capable of playing in other positions. At the time we didn’t feel he was a domineering centre-back.”
When he looked back on his first team bow, White said in a matchday programme interview: “There weren’t many people who could play because of the injuries at centre-half but I was still surprised (to be chosen) and hopefully I took my chance to impress.
“I learned a lot about concentration; you can’t afford to switch off in the first team because you’ll get punished otherwise.
“I’ve tried to take that back into the under-23s and hopefully I can implement that with them now. Learning off players like Dunky was great, they’re really good people to learn from.”
White had begun to be involved in the first team that pre-season, joining the squad for training in Tenerife and featuring in friendlies against Crawley Town, Fulham and Lazio.
Ahead of him in his position at the time were Dunk, Shane Duffy, Connor Goldson and Uwe Hunemeier, so it was always going to be a gradual transition to the senior group.
“Obviously I’d love to get involved with the first team again, as that gave me a taste of what I want to do on a regular basis,” he said.
But there were three loans – in League Two, League One and the Championship – before he became a first team regular.
Gaining experience with Newport County
First stop was South Wales, and Morling recalled how Albion gave Newport County specific instructions as to how they could improve him: he needed to work on his aerial ability and show more personality in and around training.
Brighton-born managerial veteran Lennie Lawrence was supporting team manager Mike Flynn and Morling observed: “He did really well. They really liked him and they played a big part in his development, no question.”
White played 51 games across four competitions, which included memorable tests in the FA Cup when the League Two side beat Leeds 2-1 at home in round three (it avenged a 5-1 defeat in the League Cup earlier in the season when White’s ability to carry the ball out from defence caught the eye of Leeds’ then sporting director, Victor Orta).
Leeds tried to persuade White to move to Elland Road that January but he decided to stay put and once again impressed when the Welsh side held Spurs to a 1-1 draw (Harry Kane equalised with eight minutes to go) in the fourth round before losing the replay 2-0 at Wembley (Spurs’ temporary home ground at the time).
Flynn later reflected: “I knew he was going to be a bright star just by watching him day-in, day-out. When he goes and puts in the performances he did against the likes of Leeds and Tottenham, then you start realising how good he can be.
“He was outstanding. I described him as a Rolls Royce. He moved as eloquently as a footballer can. He was quicker than he looks, he read the game exceptionally well for somebody of that age, and he was a great lad all-round. His attitude was first class.
“For me, my biggest concern was whether he could handle the physicality of League Two. But he played against the ex-Brighton captain Adam El-Abd [when Newport faced Wycombe Wanderers] and there was a 50:50 in the corner. Ben’s gone straight through him, come out with the ball and hit a 60-yard diag.”
Somewhat presciently, Flynn added: “I think he’ll play at the top level and I think he’ll represent England.”
The player’s agent, Alex Levack told The Athletic: “Going out on loan to Newport, that was the time when he pretty much turned from boy, or young man, to a proper man; players fighting for win bonuses, it was the real world, but he seems to transition easily, doesn’t get ruffled, kind of like he is on the pitch. He takes everything on board, sometimes doesn’t say much, but he understands it. He’s smarter than he might make out.”
White’s impressive season for County earned him the South Wales Argus Player of the Year Award and, on his return to Brighton, he signed a contract extension. With Goldson and Hunemeier having moved on, White had some involvement with Albion’s first team squad in the first half of the 2018-19 season although Leon Balogun was back-up to Dunk and Duffy and the youngster had only one unused sub appearance (away to Burnley).
Morling had worked in Peterborough United’s academy before joining Brighton, and Rusk had played for Posh, so perhaps it wasn’t too surprising that White’s next step was to Cambridgeshire in January 2019, where the ebullient former manager Barry Fry was director of football.
White made 15 appearances in League One for Peterborough, initially under Steve Evans and then Darren Ferguson, as they just missed out on the play-offs by a single point and one place, but Fry said: “He was magnificent, different class.
“He was far better than our standard when he played for us. Very cool, a lovely lad off the pitch, a diamond, very dedicated, great in the community but, most of all, a proper player.”
Those experiences certainly had an impact on White, who said: “Playing for points in the lower leagues and winning games is an amazing feeling, simply because the boys don’t get paid as much, so the three points and a bonus is really important to them. The players really put a shift in as a result.
“It was a good learning experience because I came up against all different kinds of strikers, with different qualities, and I had to battle and fight, which I wouldn’t say is my strongest attribute.
“I enjoyed the experience; it was very different to anything I’d been used to, but I found that as I went up the divisions it suited my game more. Saying that, the further up you go you’re going to get punished if you make a mistake.”
White playing for Leeds up against one-time Albion loanee Izzy Brown
Leeds’ Orta was determined to take White to Elland Road and, with Pontus Jansson having moved on to Brentford, quirky team boss Marcelo Bielsa gave his blessing to the youngster joining on a season-long loan in July 2019.
White played all 46 games as Leeds won the Championship title and he said later of Bielsa: “I learned so much from him; his coaching was all about details, the minor things like how the ball spins when you pass it, how you’re passing it, why you’re passing it. I learnt a great deal from him.”
Leeds teammate Luke Ayling was suitably impressed by the loanee, saying: “Top, top quality. He showed mental strength to come in here as a lad that nobody knew about and step into Pontus’ shoes and hit the ground running. A real, real quality player with a strong mentality. The sky’s the limit for him.”
The Yorkshire Evening Post was similarly impressed, naming him their Player of the Season and reporter Lee Sobot declaring: “White has the world at his feet and the centre-back has shown skills not befitting a typical centre-back during his forays forward and the occasional stint in the holding midfield role.”
Fellow Leeds writer Graham Smyth said: “He handled the division’s physicality, its relentless fixture schedule and the weighty expectation that is sewn into the fabric of a Leeds United shirt. He wore it brilliantly.”
Leeds were determined to land White permanently and put in three significant bids, one believed to be of £25million, all of which Brighton rejected. His agent told The Athletic: “They (Brighton) said he was coming back here to play. A lot of clubs would say that and maybe not follow through with it. But the manager said it, Dan Ashworth (technical director) said it, the chairman (Tony Bloom) said it, and it’s been proven correct.”
With his feet firmly ensconced as part of Albion’s first team set-up, White said: “The way the boys train and how they’re living, everything about them is at the next level. The training has been great. I’m continuing to learn under the gaffer (Potter) here and it’s great to have Dunky as my captain as well.
White blocks a Phil Foden shot
“He’s phenomenal, isn’t he? He’s done it at every level and has continued to progress and be the star man every season. He’s pure quality to train alongside. He rarely has a poor session and you can see the difference in him compared to when I was last here. He’s grown up a lot, taken charge of everyone and looks like a real captain.”
From a fans’ perspective, it was just a pity that the majority of White’s Albion matches were played behind closed doors because of the Covid pandemic.
In a March 2021 interview with Sky Sports, Potter said: “He’s got a lot of attributes that I think are really exciting for us. As a modern centre-back, he’s got a lot of things that are really interesting.”
Such was his form across 39 league and cup games that he was named Seagulls’ Player of the Season, and on 2 June 2021, White made his England debut, going on as a 71st minute sub for Jack Grealish in England’s 1-0 pre-European Championship Finals warm-up friendly win against Austria at The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough. He became only the fifth Brighton player to play for England.
Four days later, he added his second cap when he started for England at the same stadium in a 1-0 win over Romania. On two other occasions that month, he was twice an unused sub (v Croatia and the Czech Republic at Wembley).
That recognition inevitably had big clubs circling: Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool enquired about his availability, but it was Arsenal who were prepared to meet Albion’s £50million asking price.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: “Ben was a top target for us and it’s great that we’ve completed his signing. Ben has been educated with two very good clubs, Brighton and Leeds, in recent seasons.
“He has benefitted well from two very good coaching set-ups and has shown with both Brighton and on loan with Leeds what a strong talent he is.
“Ben is an intelligent defender who is very comfortable with the ball at his feet and his style fits perfectly with us. And of course, he is still young, so his age and profile fits with what we are building here. We are all looking forward to Ben being central to our future long-term plans.”
A sanguine Potter told Sky Sports: “It’s part of the process for us growing as a club and a team.
“Obviously Ben played a lot of minutes for us last year and was a key player but the finances involved meant it was a really good option for us as a club to improve, to keep growing, and we need to then use the money wisely to develop the team further.
“I’m happy for Ben, of course, happy for the club. I’m proud of everybody in the academy and everybody that has helped his journey outside of Brighton, because he’s had some loan opportunities as well which have developed him. It’s a great story for us.”
White on his England debut
White won two more England caps in March 2022, playing in a 2-1 win over Switzerland at Wembley and featuring in the first half of a 3-0 win over Cote d’Ivoire.
What happened subsequently to his international career has been written and spoken about on multiple occasions, much of it from unattributed sources, while the player himself has always maintained a dignified silence.
Suffice to say here, he was an unused sub for two games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and left the squad early for personal reasons which certain sources say related to a falling-out with Gareth Southgate’s no.2, Steve Holland (although Southgate denied it).
It’s apparent reading various articles about White that he’s one of those players (Bobby Zamora was another) who switch right off from football after they’ve stopped training or playing.
In an Arsenal matchday programme, White said: “My profession just happens to also be a lot of people’s hobby. They look forward to every Saturday to watch the game and that’s great. But for me it’s about being on the pitches every day, trying to constantly be the best you can be. That’s the bit I really love.
“I never used to watch football much anyway. If it was on when I was a kid, after five minutes I’d get bored of it and go outside to play football. I didn’t really watch it, I’d much rather do it. Even now, I don’t watch football really.
“I watch my own clips and my own footage to help me improve but I wouldn’t watch a game for fun.”
White explained: “When I come into the training ground, it’s all about football – 100 per cent focus. Then when I leave, I switch off from it. I know some players are just about football 24/7 but for me, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I wouldn’t be able to give everything if I did that.
“I think it’s a good balance for me to switch off and leave it at the training ground.”
Now in his fifth season with the Gunners, he made 134 league and cup appearances in his first three seasons, but a knee injury limited his involvement to 26 matches in 2024-25 and he’s made only a handful of starts in 2025-26 with Riccardo Calafiori or Jurrien Timber often ahead of him in the right-back berth.
Nonetheless, when Arteta was questioned about White at the turn of the year, he said: “I’ve said it many times about how I feel about Ben and not [just] what he’s done in the last few weeks, but what he’s done for us in the last few years.
“He’s shown that in various contexts that he’s a player that’s going to give absolutely everything for the team, that he’s always there, he’s someone you can count on in any circumstances.”
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.”
