What Pascal Struijk brings to Brighton: ‘He has everything a modern defender needs’

Brighton & Hove Albion have lost a lot of standard-setters this summer, so “the calm power” of Pascal Struijk is a welcome addition to the ranks.

The Dutch central defender, signed from Leeds United at the end of June for around £18million, will help to compensate for the departures of several key figures.

Long-serving duo Solly March and Adam Webster were released at the end of last season. The Premier League’s record appearances maker James Milner retired and Joel Veltman left when his contract expired at the end of June after unsuccessful talks over a new deal.

Those exits were followed last week by club stalwart Andrew Crofts vacating his role as joint assistant manager under Fabian Hurzeler to reunite with former Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi on the Italian’s staff at Tottenham Hotspur.

All were model professionals who bought into the ethos of the club, in several cases over the course of many years. The same can be said of Struijk during his eight seasons spent at Leeds after signing as a youth player from Ajax in his homeland in 2018.

“When I came to Leeds (in 2024), Pascal was the vice-captain to Ethan Ampadu,” former France international midfielder Josuha Guilavogui tells The Athletic. “He is someone that everyone loves in the dressing room because he’s very calm — the calm power. He is never going to yell at someone, but when he is speaking, everyone listens. Just a few words and everyone will follow.

“He doesn’t talk a lot, but because he is massive (190cm — just shy of 6ft 3in), everyone will listen to him. And he is very, very nice. If you need something, Pascal will be there for you. He has a captain’s soul.”

Struijk captained newly-promoted Leeds on multiple occasions last season as they recovered from a sticky start under Daniel Farke to eventually finish eight points clear of relegation.

Lewis Dunk, Brighton’s long-serving skipper and fellow centre-back, is still a big influence at the age of 34, but Struijk’s leadership skills will be a useful antidote to Jan Paul van Hecke’s June transfer to Tottenham for £52million. Struijk’s compatriot was seen as a natural successor to regular partner Dunk as captain.

Guilavogui only spent a season with Struijk in that second-tier title success at Leeds before retiring, but it was long enough to forge a close relationship and an appreciation of what the 26-year-old will bring on and off the pitch to his new employers. Guilavogui was on the guest list when Struijk got married this summer.

“I got to know his family, and he’s coming from a great family with great values. So, I’m not surprised that he has such a character,” Guilavogui says. “As a player, he has everything that a modern defender needs to have in his skills.

“He has an amazing left foot, which is very important — a lot of defenders now are always right-footed. And he is very strong in the air, defensively and offensively. He scored some nice headers from corners in that year when we were champions. He has very good technique, so he can play small passes in small spaces.

“I was surprised when I arrived, because he was our penalty taker. That is quite unusual for a central defender, but he is very good at it.”

Struijk’s versatility increases Hurzeler’s options: some of his 196 games for Leeds — including 119 Premier League appearances across four seasons — were at left-back or in midfield during the early stages of his time there under Marcelo Bielsa.

“When I first went there, he was just a centre-back, and then he moved into midfield not long afterwards,” says former Leeds winger Stuart McKinstry, who joined their academy setup in 2019. “I saw a big jump from the first year I was there to the second year, in terms of just how mobile he was. As a centre-back, you don’t really need to be that mobile.

“When he moved into midfield, he didn’t have the body for someone you thought would be mobile, but he was everywhere in training — one of those players you would hate playing against, because he would beat you a lot to the ball and, if he got the ball, his quality was unreal. His left foot was unbelievable, but he could play with both feet, and he just had a physical presence that you didn’t like playing against because there weren’t many parts of his game where you could out-muscle him.”

Bielsa gave Struijk his Leeds debut at the age of 20 in the Championship in December 2019. Those early days under the intense Argentinian were character-building.

“He (Bielsa) was quite harsh on him at first,” says McKinstry, now at Hamilton Academical in Scottish League One after four years with Leeds. “Pascal was always one of the younger boys that would probably get shouted at or pointed out on the park, but it was coming from a place of love, because you could see the potential that he had. He was just chilled about it and wouldn’t make another mistake after that.

“He wasn’t one of the loud ones in the dressing room or around the place, but he was really down to earth. He has got a little kid now, and that is exactly the way I thought he would be. He just had a quiet, chilled life, but he was such a nice guy.”

Even nice guys lose the plot sometimes, though. Struijk’s new Brighton team-mates could see a different side of his character if they get round to playing video games together.

“I remember one time we were playing Mario Kart,” says Guilavogui. “We were playing Premier League and Championship, because there were so many of us, maybe 12 players, with the top six staying in the Premier League and the others going down to the Championship.

“Pascal was giving his all to win this game. When he was losing, he was so mad. Really mad. You did not expect him to be like this. Always complaining: ‘But why is it always me? I don’t understand this game. I don’t want to play anymore’. It was very funny.”