Since the arrivals of Moises Caicedo, Pervis Estupiñán and Jeremy Sarmiento at Brighton & Hove Albion, there’s a good reason for the Ecuadorian media to call the Seagulls ‘Ecuabrighton’ this season.
It turns out there’s another player from the South American country who could have arrived at the Premier League side even before that trio. That’s Leonardo Campana.
This story was told by his representative Gonzalo Vargas in an interview with El Canal De Futbol (via Olé Ecuador). There, it was revealed that Brighton made an attempt to sign the striker in 2020, but he ended up moving to another Premier League club instead.
“Before Leo Campana arrived in Wolverhampton we had an offer that could not be made concrete, and not by our decision, from Brighton,” Gonzalo Vargas told El Canal De Futebol.
“I had a meeting in England with the sporting director of Brighton and Leo could have been the first Ecuadorian at Brighton.”
It was in January 2020 that Campana’s contract with Ecuadorian side Barcelona expired and he was signed by Wolverhampton Wanderers as a free agent.
He never had a chance to make his debut for Wolves, though, and spent the past few years on loans at Famalicão, Grasshoppers and Inter Miami. In January this year, the MLS side made his signing permanent with a €2.7m deal.
Maybe he could have had better luck at Brighton.
