When Brighton and Hove Albion are doing well, it doesn’t usually take long for someone to be raging about one of their current stars.
Usually that rage, disappointment or annoyance is centred around how various clubs have managed to miss out on that particular player.
Most of that comes from the fact Brighton have the well established ability to pick a random name up for a more than reasonable price and quickly make them look like a superstar that everyone else has somehow managed to miss.
The latest in that growing list is Chema Andres, the ‘Baby Rodri’. And his performances are leading to plenty of frustration back in Spain.
Spanish annoyance
Mundo Deportivo bring the annoyance in their print edition today. They question how Real Madrid have managed to lose track of Chema, particularly given their failed attempts to sign Rodri in the summer transfer window.
The newspaper explains that Madrid have a problem in central midfield at this moment in time. whenever Jose Mourinho’s side lose the ball there is an ‘ocean of space’ in the middle of the pitch.
They need a midfield controller, hence why Rodri was a target in the summer. Now they need an alternative. The man at Brighton could be the answer. The frustrating thing is they already had him.
| Every Brighton signing 26/27 | Previous Club | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Luka Vušković | Tottenham Hotspur | £46m |
| Zadok Yohanna | AIK | £24m |
| Pascal Struijk | Leeds United | £20m |
| Chema Andrés | VfB Stuttgart | €22m |
| Femi Azeez | Millwall | €14.6m |
| Jaouen Hadjam | Young Boys | €13m |
| Costinha | Olympiacos | €12.7m |
| Michael Svoboda | Venezia | €5m |
| Matías Orozco | Deportivo Cali | €4.1m |
| Rodrigo Rêgo | Benfica | €3.5m |
| Promise David | Union SG | Loan |
Another youth product lost
Chema is a product of Real Madrid’s La Fabrica. But they let him go to join Stuttgart, pocketing €11m this summer when they sold him to Brighton. He was never once given a chance at the Spanish giants.
They have long treated their academy as nothing more than a source of revenue. Mundo say they fail to realise what they truly need, even when they already have it in their house. That’s now coming back to haunt them as what they need is shining at Brighton in the Premier League.
And, even if they wished to bring him back, it would like cost a considerable amount to do so. That should have been unnecessary, though. And if Chema continues to impress, the frustration over selling him will only continue to grow.
