Ben Guest
One of the most outstanding teams in the Premier League from the 2022/23 season has to be Brighton & Hove Albion. The result of their best season in the top flight is that the team will be playing in Europe for the first time. Brighton finished sixth and will be in the Europa League next season. That’s just about it from last season; the focus now is on the coming season, and the summer transfer window will say a lot about how Brighton are planning to cope with the additional assignments that come with midweek football.
In recent seasons, Brighton have been a selling club. They’ve lost more of their top staff than they’ve gained and for a while there were questions over the sustainability of their model. Well, they managed to cope after making a good fortune from their sales, but will the same hold when it comes to higher commitments?
Top players
In the course of last season, Brighton saw off a number of their top players as well as their manager, and many expected them to struggle. Very few would have imagined this was the fuel they needed for their best season. That fuel pushed them to Europe and as they move to explore new grounds, manager Roberto de Zerbi knows too well they will have to sign. Manchester City and West Ham United’s success should be the key motivators for Brighton to want to be the next English side to claim European glory.
Doing it at the first time of asking may be a big ask but these things happen in football. There will definitely be a lot of bets against them going too far on the European debut. Most of the world’s best bookmakers will definitely cash in on such teams. Stake, for example, has the Promo Code STYVIP to activate great offers that can go all the way to 200% for a deposit of €100. Brighton’s European bow can be the perfect avenue to use current Stake.com deposit bonus that assures of up to €1000 as profiled on Sportytrader.
Mac Allister exit
Brighton have already seen one of their top performers in Alexis MacAlister leave. The World Cup winner has joined Liverpool in what seems like the first of key departures from the club. Brighton would have needed his experience to do well in the Europa League, now they are left with a massive hole to fill.
While they have time to replace, the major concern for Brighton now will be the desire of another midfielder, Moises Caicedo. Arsenal and Manchester United are said to be the interested clubs in Caicedo’s signature. The player looked set for a move to Arsenal in January, but that didn’t materialize as Brighton refused to trade. He even went on to sign a new contract at the club.
This summer, it will take a lot from Brighton to convince him to stay, seeing that teams playing in the Champions League are trailing him. Similar focus will also be on the players coming in. In the past season, at least 10 players aged 21 and below played for Brighton in the league. The manager might want to trust these youngsters to play in Europe, but that will come as a not-so-good idea.