Tag: PSV Eindhoven

Technically gifted Davy Pröpper a top talent in Albion’s midfield

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.

Jurgen Locadia: the big money flop on the World Cup stage

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.

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Teenage Teddy Maybank’s Chelsea promise dashed by injury at Brighton

TEDDY MAYBANK signed for the Seagulls for what at the time was a club record transfer in November 1977 and went on to score Brighton’s first ever top division goal.

But the new signing came in for some flak from the terraces and, over two years, never really delivered a significant return on the investment.

Maybank himself reckons the club forced him to play on with an injured knee when he shouldn’t have, which led to irreparable damage and ultimately a premature end to his career.

The former Chelsea centre-forward was signed to replace Ian Mellor, Peter Ward’s prolific strike partner in the 3rd Division, after Brighton had won promotion to the second tier.

“We let Ian Mellor go because we felt that he had reached a certain age and had probably peaked,” Alan Mullery told Matthew Horner, in his Peter Ward biography, He Shot, He Scored. “When Teddy Maybank became available, we thought that he was probably a better option.”

Born in Lambeth on 11 October 1956, Maybank lived the first 15 years of his life in Brixton and went to Christchurch Primary School, close to his home, where one of his playground footballing mates was Ray Lewington — now loyal deputy to Roy Hodgson — who, together with Maybank, went on to play for Chelsea and Fulham.

At the age of 11, Maybank moved to Stockwell Manor Secondary School and played various age group levels for South London Boys. One of the representative matches he played in took place at the Goldstone Ground on 25 September 1971, against Brighton Boys.

The Maybank family moved to Mitcham, close to the Chelsea training ground, and, when Teddy was 15, he joined them straight from school.

Maybank and Lewington progressed through Chelsea’s youth ranks at a time when the club’s focus was on bringing through home-grown talent. “It was a good time at Chelsea,” he said. “We had such a good youth side and I loved playing under Ken Shellito.”

That team, which won the South-East Counties Championship four years in a row, included Ray and Graham Wilkins, Lewington and John Sparrow.

Maybank’s first-team debut came in a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in April 1975 aged just 18, and he scored in only his second game, a 1-1 home draw against Sheffield United, but Chelsea were relegated from the top division that year.

The following campaign saw Maybank, still a teenager, become a first-team regular under Eddie McCreadie, grabbing five goals in 26 appearances between August and February.

After falling out of favour, he went out on loan to Fulham just before Christmas 1976 and then signed permanently for a £65,000 fee later that season.

Back in the ‘70s, Chelsea were a long way from the force they are now and Maybank admitted: “I wouldn’t say I ever played that well at Chelsea. I didn’t find it easy to score goals there.”

It was a different story at Craven Cottage. After scoring more than a goal every other game – 17 times in 31 games – Maybank was sold to Brighton for £238,000, which gave Fulham a swift and substantial profit that they used to pay off money owed on their recently-built Eric Miller Stand (now, the Riverside Stand).

                     Blond locks flying, Maybank comes up against QPR’s Dave Clement in a 1978  pre-season friendly. (Above right) This overhead kick against Sunderland at The Goldstone scraped the bar … otherwise would have been a Goal of the Season candidate!

Maybank made a good enough start for the Seagulls, scoring after just six minutes on his debut in a 2-2 home draw with Blackburn Rovers, played on a bitterly cold day in front of a crowd of 26,467. Tony Towner scored the Albion’s other goal and another debutant in that game was tough-tackling midfield player, Paul Clark.

Maybank was on the scoresheet again in the very next game as Albion recorded their first ever win, 1-0, at Blackpool.

It was in a game against Orient a week before Christmas that Maybank got a kick on his knee from defender Dennis Rofe (who later played for Leicester and Southampton) which caused an injury which he maintains wasn’t properly managed by the club.

He told fulhamfc.com in 2013: “They kept giving me injections, taking all the fluid out every Sunday after the game.

“I was barely training. I could run in a straight line but any time I put weight on my leg I would fall over. I wouldn’t feel any pain because of the injections, but I just fell over.”

The Brighton fans thought they had bought Bambi and were soon on his back, leading to a “pretty terrible time” that Maybank never really recovered from.

“The club should never ever have allowed me to play in that situation,” he said. “A surgeon saw me outside of the club, opened me up and said: ‘if you ever play football again, you’ll be the luckiest bloke in the world’.

“Brighton had told me, basically, that I couldn’t do any more damage. They wouldn’t do it now, but because I was the highest transfer fee they ever paid, they didn’t really take my welfare into consideration at all. In the end, it ruined my career.”

                      Shoot! article and (above right) Maybank goes full length to head the second of  his three goals against Cardiff on Boxing Day 1978.

In an article in Shoot! magazine at the time, Maybank talked about how he hadn’t had the best of starts with his new club. He said: “I wasn’t playing well. I knew that. My early form was a disappointment to the fans. They expected me to come in and start scoring regularly and doing incredible things.

“It’s always hard when you change clubs and you need a while to settle in. I have to adjust to my new team-mates but they’ve also had to change and adapt to playing with me.”

Mansfield were trounced 5-1 at the Goldstone on 21 January 1978 when Peter Ward shone with a hat-trick. Maybank also got one, but it was his last of the season. He made only six more appearances between January and the end of the season and new signing Malcolm Poskett seized his chance alongside Ward.

Albion narrowly missed out on promotion (by goal difference) and during the close season Maybank went under the knife for a cartilage operation.

Fit for the new season, Maybank was among the goals as Albion beat Millwall 4-1 at The Den on 2 September. He got a brace that day but in the same month was in trouble with the manager who’d had an anonymous tip-off that the star striker and Welsh international winger Peter Sayer had been seen in a nightclub on the eve of what turned out to be a 4-1 defeat by Leicester City.

Mullery made an example of the pair and they were both ‘persuaded’ to donate a fortnight’s wages to the local Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

On the pitch, the goals dried up for Maybank until Boxing Day when he netted a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Cardiff City. In an Albion matchday programme in 2015-16, Maybank admitted to Spencer Vignes: “The crowd started getting on my back, and I got in a pretty dark place.

“When I got that hat-trick, I went from villain to hero and yet it had got so bad that the day before Alan Mullery picked the squad I’d told him I never wanted to play for the club again.

“From the changing room before a game, I used to hear the crowd boo my name when the team was read out over the tannoy.”

In total, Maybank scored 10 times as Albion won promotion, and he was leading the line in the famous promotion-clinching 3-1 win at Newcastle on 5 May 1979.

In that season’s Rediffusion Player of the Year competition, Maybank finished third behind winner Mark Lawrenson and runner-up Brian Horton.

In much the same way Pascal Gross was feted for scoring Brighton’s first-ever goal in the Premiership, so Maybank scored the Albion’s very first goal in the top division.

After being hammered 4-0 by Arsenal in the opening fixture at the Goldstone, the Seagulls were away to Aston Villa in the second game.

                      Arms aloft, Maybank celebrates Albion’s first ever top division goal with skipper Brian Horton and Peter O’Sullivan. (Above right) Maybank battles with Arsenal’s David O’Leary watched by John Hollins and O’Sullivan.

Latching on to a John Gregory through pass and, with the very last kick of the first half, Maybank buried a shot past ‘keeper Jimmy Rimmer.

Albion lost the game 2-1 but the national newspapers were full of praise for the newcomers to the division.

Frank Clough in The Sun wrote: “Teddy Maybank and Peter Ward tore great holes in Villa’s jittery defence and were only stopped by inadequate finishing and fine goalkeeping by Rimmer.”

It was the first of three Maybank goals at the top level, but, according to Ward, the striker had a big falling out with Mullery. The manager brought in Ray Clarke as his first choice centre-forward and, in December 1979, Maybank was sold back to Fulham for £150,000.

He had scored a total of 16 goals in 64 appearances for the Seagulls, less than half the ratio he’d been scoring when bought.

After just 19 games for Fulham, Maybank joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven for £230,000 in August 1980 (Fulham making another tidy profit on the player).

His debut for the Dutch giants came in front of a packed house at the Nou Camp, where Barcelona were staging a four-team tournament with Vasco da Gama and River Plate.

However, only a few games later his knee flared up again.

“They opened me up and saw what a state my knee was in,” Maybank explained in that 2013 interview with fulhamfc.co.uk. “I was told in no uncertain terms that if I didn’t retire I would be playing with the youth team or reserves. I think they thought they’d been taken for a ride.”

Maybank was left with no choice. At the age of 24, he retired from the game.

Pictures from my scrapbook sourced from Shoot! magazine and the matchday programme.