No Baleba, no problem: Brighton continue to defy football logic
Brighton & Hove Albion’s tactic of selling top players during the summer transfer window and continuing to thrive shows no sign of stalling.
No Jan Paul van Hecke, Danny Welbeck, Carlos Baleba or Yankuba Minteh? No problem. Aston Villa were thrashed 4-0 at the Amex Stadium in the opening Premier League fixture of the new campaign for Fabian Hurzeler’s side — without four of the players that helped them finish eighth in the table last season to qualify for the Conference League.
Centre-back Van Hecke joined Tottenham for £52million. Evergreen forward Welbeck, 35, top scorer last season with 13 league goals, moved to Chelsea. Midfielder Baleba is on the brink of completing a switch to Manchester United in a deal worth up to £70million as he recovers from ankle ligament damage. As things stand, bids of £50m and £60m from Liverpool have been rejected for winger Minteh, who is ruled out until October after surgery on a right leg injury.
The outgoing business so far this summer, even by Brighton’s standards, has been radical. In 2023, they sold midfield pair Moises Caicedo to Chelsea for a package worth £115m and Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool for around £45m. They reached the last 16 of the Europa League and still finished 11th under former head coach Roberto De Zerbi.
In 2024, Hurzeler’s first summer window after replacing De Zerbi, the imbalance created by big sales was addressed with nine new signings in finishing eighth under the German. Normal service was resumed with the £60m exit last summer of Brazilian striker Joao Pedro — their leading goalscorer at the time — to Chelsea.
There has been an unprecedented scale of churn this summer, with the probability of more deals before the window shuts on September 1. There have been 15 departures, permanently or on loan, and seven new faces. It has been a hectic baptism for sporting director Mike Cave, who was promoted to succeed his former boss Jason Ayto shortly before the window opened in June.
Ayto, Arsenal’s former interim sporting director, surprisingly left after only nine months in the job, primarily because Brighton shifted even further towards data-driven recruitment, using the global data bank of owner-chairman Tony Bloom as the starting point.
Baleba is set to join Manchester United (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
The glut of exits has included a pivot away from a core group of senior pros guiding an otherwise young squad. Welbeck’s move to Chelsea at the age of 35 followed the retirement of James Milner (40), at the end of last season, the release of long-term injury victims Solly March (32) and Adam Webster (31), plus Joel Veltman (34) joining West Ham at the beginning of August.
Some players in their mid-to-late 20s have been recruited to give the squad a more balanced age profile and a fresher look. The change has been led by the signings of 27-year-olds Pascal Struijk from Leeds United and Michael Svoboda from Italian side Venezia, who are both part of a revamp in the centre of defence prompted by the sale of Van Hecke.
The scale of disruption at a club noted for stability and shrewd leadership has caused anxiety in the fanbase about how the campaign will pan out. That will not evaporate entirely after such an emphatic home win, but it will ease some of the concerns.
Hurzeler named only one of the new signings in the starting line-up against Villa, 19-year-old centre-back Luka Vuskovic. The Croatia international, bought from Tottenham for a club record outlay of £46m, is a typical example of the types of young talent from all over the world that Brighton have become renowned for improving before eventually selling for a handsome profit. They have developed home-grown product Jack Hinshelwood, 21, themselves through the academy.
Vuskovic and Hinshelwood featured prominently as Villa were blown away by four goals in the first half. Hinshelwood nodded in the third goal in the 30th minute from a move launched by Vuskovic arrowing a cross-field pass to Maxim De Cuyper. England under-21 international Hinshelwood, converted by Hurzeler towards the end of last season from a central midfielder into an effective No 10, slotted the fourth a minute later as Villa went backwards from the restart and Joao Gomes was caught in possession by Yasin Ayari.
Hinshelwood’s double added to an eighth-minute own goal by Victor Lindelof after schoolboy defending by Villa and Belgian international De Cuyper slotting in from Georginio Rutter’s run and cross 10 minutes later.
The comfort of the scoreline enabled Hurzeler to ring the changes in the second half with five substitutions, including debuts for summer signings Costinha at right-back (the 26-year-old joined from Olympiakos) and 19-year-old Nigerian winger Zadok Yohanna from Swedish side AIK for £21.8m. Struijk, Svoboda and Canadian international striker Promise David signed on loan for the season from Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise with an obligation to buy, were unused on the bench.
It was a perfect scenario for Hurzeler — the scope to rotate early with next Thursday’s second leg at home to Tromso in the Conference League play-offs in mind. He started with eight of the team that drew 0-0 in the first leg in Norway on Thursday.
“Everyone can buy our top players, but you cannot buy what is inside that changing room,” Hinshelwood told The Athletic afterwards. “That’s the most valuable thing, our togetherness, and the way when we all want to die for each other when we go out on that pitch and give everything. You saw a true team performance.”
How much longer it can go on for is hard to tell, but Brighton continue to defy football logic. They sell their key players and yet maintain their progress.