Brightons transfer window: Fati surprise, 140m from Chelsea, Kudus fell through

June 07, 2024

The window has shut on a hectic and transformative summer of trading for Brighton & Hove Albion.

They have lost key players, most notably Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister, but brought in lots of new (and older) blood, from Ansu Fati and Carlos Baleba to James Milner and Mahmoud Dahoud. And they have sold others who were on the fringes, while continuing the pattern of multiple outward loans to aid development and the final decision-making process on whether those players have a future back at the Amex Stadium.

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The result is a squad with a fresh look to it and quality in depth, which they are going to need for their debut in continental-level competition, facing Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens in the Europa League group stage, in head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first full season in charge.

Best piece of business

Selling Caicedo and signing Baleba.

Caicedo is really good and will be missed but… £115million for a player they signed for around £4m less than three years ago?! That is just too good to turn down, and a stunning upturn after Chelsea’s opening bid of £70m.

Baleba did not do a lot in his one season of senior football with French club Lille to justify a price tag of an initial £23million, but wait until De Zerbi starts working with him. Brighton have become experts at nurturing and developing raw talents such as the 19-year-old Cameroonian midfielder.

Give it two or three years and a profit from those two deals combined of around £90million — taking into account the add-ons involved with Baleba — will look exceptional.

The problem they don’t look to have solved

Left-back cover for Pervis Estupinan. By which I mean proper cover. It’s the one position on the pitch that keeps on nagging me when I look at this squad.

Estupinan is Brighton’s only recognised left-back (Photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

The Ecuador international is a footballing machine who is hardly ever injured, but sod’s law and all that…

There are numerous options — new signings Igor Julio and Milner, switching Joel Veltman or Tariq Lamptey to the opposite flank — but Estupinan remains the player Brighton can least afford to lose for any length of time.

The deal I still don’t quite understand

Robert Sanchez getting a seven-year contract at Chelsea.

The £25million fee for the Spain international goalkeeper’s move to Stamford Bridge is fair enough — he’s still only 25 years old, with room for further growth in his game. But a deal until 2030? That’s nuts when there are so many variables that could come into play over such a long period.

The one who got away

Mohammed Kudus. The Ghana attacking midfielder looked a good fit for De Zerbi’s style, and an agreement was reached in principle with Ajax on a fee of £34.5million.

Kudus has signed for West Ham despite Brighton agreeing a fee with Ajax (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

But the player couldn’t agree personal terms: in particular, Brighton’s reluctance to include a release clause in his deal (which they routinely avoid with new signings and contract renegotiations) was an issue.

I liked what I saw from him at the World Cup last year. He will do well for West Ham United, who he joined last weekend for an initial £35.6million.

Signing other clubs will be most envious of

Fati. You bet they will be. At Tottenham Hotspur, who were also linked with the 20-year-old Barcelona forward, and others.

He has had his fair share of injury troubles, but Fati is a hugely exciting talent with the potential to thrive under De Zerbi.

Brighton don’t, as a rule, like doing inward loans on the basis that it is simply developing a player for another club. For example, Levi Colwill, who was excellent on loan from Chelsea last season before returning to them and eventually agreeing a new, long-term contract.

But this is different.

De Zerbi wanted a replacement for Julio Enciso after the 19-year-old Paraguayan suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee in training last week, an injury that could keep him out until 2024.

With little time to line something up, landing Fati is quite a coup.

I can’t believe that…

Cole Palmer chose Chelsea (yes, them again!).

Brighton were interested in buying the England Under-21 international winger from Manchester City, but not for upwards of £4omillion. Career-wise, the 21-year-old would have been better off coming to Brighton, with more chance of regular football than he is likely to get in west London.

My early tip for January

Adrian Mazilu.

I know, it’s cheating a bit, as the 17-year-old winger has already been signed from and loaned back to Farul Constanta, with the plan being for him to rock up at the Amex Stadium in the new year. But it’s worth highlighting because it’s trademark Brighton — forward planning to snare the next big thing out of, in this case, Romania, leaving everyone else wondering how they keep on unearthing these cut-price gems.

The club’s strongest XI now is…

This is a question that doesn’t apply to Brighton, with their entry into Europe this season, because De Zerbi cannot play it regularly, not with four competitions to potentially juggle at home and abroad come February.

To prove the point, here, in no particular order, are two strong and well-matched XIs, not including the injured Enciso, promising Argentine teenager Facundo Buonanotte and Mazilu, to cope with anything between 46 and 64 matches from here to the end of May:

Team A Jason Steele; Veltman, Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk, Estupinan; Pascal Gross, Baleba; Solly March, Joao Pedro, Kaoru Mitoma; Danny Welbeck.

Team B Bart Verbruggen; Lamptey, Jan Paul van Hecke, Igor, Milner; Dahoud, Billy Gilmour; Simon Adingra, Adam Lallana, Fati; Evan Ferguson.

Absorbing the summer departures of Caicedo, Mac Allister and Colwill will be tough, but this squad has a dynamic feel to it, with a good blend of talented youth and hard-won experience.

In:

Bart Verbruggen — Anderlecht, €19m (£16.3m, $20.5m)
Joao Pedro — Watford, £30m
James Milner — Liverpool, free
Mahmoud Dahoud — Borussia Dortmund, free
Igor Julio — Fiorentina, undisclosed
Carlos Baleba — Lille, £23m
Ansu Fati – Barcelona, loan

Out:

Alexis Mac Allister — Liverpool, up to £55m
Antef Tsoungui — Feyenoord, undisclosed
James Beadle — Oxford United, loan
Abdallah Sima — Rangers, loan
Reda Khadra — Reims, undisclosed
Kacper Kozlowski — Vitesse Arnhem, loan
Ed Turns — Leyton Orient, loan
Deniz Undav — Stuttgart, loan
Robert Sanchez — Chelsea, £25m
Michael Karbownik — Hertha Berlin, undisclosed
Moises Caicedo — Chelsea, £115m
Aaron Connolly – Hull City, undisclosed
Kjell Scherpen – Sturm Graz, loan
Haydon Roberts – Bristol City, undisclosed
Andrew Moran – Blackburn Rovers, loan
Cameron Peupion – Cheltenham Town, loan

(Top image: Caicedo, left, and new signing Fati. Photos: Getty Images, Paul Hazlewood/BHAFC)

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