22 Nov 2026
Sunday
Process
16 Edition

The Brighton Post

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Yankuba Minteh

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Diego Gómez delivers — 7.84

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Diego Gómez scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Bart Verbruggen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Brighton

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaoru Mitoma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

Brighton supporters have found a favourite in Diego Gómez

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Diego Gómez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Brighton find a way past Leeds United

Leeds United made Brighton work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Loan watch

Steven Hall wants to come home

“I did not go to Tranmere Rovers to sit and watch. I want to come back to Brighton and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ben Nelson

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ben Nelson, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Kaoru Mitoma gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kaoru Mitoma is on it.

In brief

Back issues
15 Edition

The Brighton Post

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

12 saves: Bart Verbruggen was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

Brighton announce themselves in Europe

3‑0 against Breidablik, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.

Squad

Yankuba Minteh takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Reiss Nelson beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Bart Verbruggen wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Brighton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

James Milner ran the middle of the pitch — 6.70

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Player ratings

One of those days for Yankuba Minteh

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.65, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

A bad afternoon for Brighton against Manchester City

0‑1 to Manchester City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

14 Edition

The Brighton Post

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Reiss Nelson was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 44. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Cup progress for Brighton

A 2‑0 win over Bristol Rovers, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Babis Kostoulas at 19 — 8.34

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Babis Kostoulas did not need any: 8.34, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Kaoru Mitoma wants more than Brighton are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Whatever happens, Brighton do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Market

Yasin Ayari has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Brighton can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Words at Brighton training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yankuba Minteh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The terraces

Brighton supporters have found a favourite in Babis Kostoulas

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Babis Kostoulas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

In brief

13 Edition

The Brighton Post

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Brighton do the business in Europe

3‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Brighton came through the finding-out well against Breidablik.

Player ratings

Maxim De Cuyper beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

A brace, and Babis Kostoulas takes the afternoon — 8.70

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Babis Kostoulas provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Kaoru Mitoma scores twice — 8.33

Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Age has not caught James Milner yet — 7.88

At 40 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match

Nobody wants to play Brighton right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Brighton

Pascal Groß and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Brighton

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaoru Mitoma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Yasin Ayari

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief

12 Edition

The Brighton Post

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Yankuba Minteh

Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

James Milner says Brighton went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Late improvement for Bart Verbruggen

At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Diego Gómez

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

Diego Gómez sends Brighton past West Ham United

It finished 1‑0, and it was Diego Gómez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Brighton.

Player ratings

Diego Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jack Hinshelwood

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jack Hinshelwood, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Yankuba Minteh plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

11 Edition

The Brighton Post

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Yankuba Minteh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Yasin Ayari signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yasin Ayari commits to Brighton for another 5 years.

Squad

Words at Brighton training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yankuba Minteh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

Steven Hall has seen enough of Tranmere Rovers

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Brighton, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.

The dugout

James Milner gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Georginio Rutter was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Brighton

10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

Match

Brighton share the spoils with Arsenal

A 1‑1 draw with Arsenal leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

10 Edition

The Brighton Post

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Brighton do the business in Europe

1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Brighton came through the finding-out well against TSC.

Match

Brighton win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. TSC will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Babis Kostoulas at 19 — 8.13

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Babis Kostoulas did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Yankuba Minteh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Pascal Groß and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Kaoru Mitoma falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Babis Kostoulas

At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

Brentford take the points off Brighton

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Yankuba Minteh left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Yankuba Minteh will call it something else in private.

In brief

9 Edition

The Brighton Post

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Yankuba Minteh was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 67. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Kaoru Mitoma in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Brighton

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Real improvement from Shane Nti at Brighton

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Shane Nti is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Loan watch

Sebastian Jensen counts the days

“I watch every Brighton game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bromley runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luke Ellis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Brighton dressing room was either.

The dugout

Georginio Rutter gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Georginio Rutter is on it.

The dugout

Kaoru Mitoma left out for tactical reasons at Brighton

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

Market

Bart Verbruggen linked with a move away

The name of Bart Verbruggen keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Brighton say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

8 Edition

The Brighton Post

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Brighton do the business in Europe

2‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Brighton came through the finding-out well against Fenerbahce.

Player ratings

Yankuba Minteh beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Jack Hinshelwood at 21 — 7.61

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jack Hinshelwood did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Bart Verbruggen has improved at 24, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Words at Brighton training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yankuba Minteh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Match

6 unbeaten for Brighton

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Brighton did not have in the autumn.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Yasin Ayari

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Player ratings

Yasin Ayari in the eights

A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

7 Edition

The Brighton Post

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Brighton

Bart Verbruggen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Kaoru Mitoma falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Diego Gómez stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Gómez and Brighton agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Player ratings

One of those days for Reiss Nelson

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

James Milner gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Matt O'Riley was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

Brighton hit back inside 1 minutes

Fulham held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Brighton answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

Squad

Brighton are still strangers to each other

10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Loan watch

Steven Hall has seen enough of Tranmere Rovers

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Brighton, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

6 Edition

The Brighton Post

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Yankuba Minteh beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 38. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Diego Gómez scores twice — 8.22

Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Antonín Kinský deal

Brighton ran out of time with Tottenham. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Transfer targets

Brighton baulk at the price for Issa Kaboré

Wrexham wanted more than $4.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 8 in, 11 out at Brighton

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Match

Brighton make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Brighton have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Pascal Groß and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Kaoru Mitoma falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Brighton see off Liverpool

Three points for Brighton, 3‑1 the final word against Liverpool in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

5 Edition

The Brighton Post

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Transfer targets

$19.1M settles it between the clubs for Antonín Kinský

Tottenham have accepted the money. What Brighton do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Brighton walk away from Jack Clarke

$21.3M was the most the club would pay and Ipswich Town were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Market

Brighton turn down FC Nantes for Georginio Rutter

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Kaoru Mitoma in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brighton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Brighton see off Manchester United

Three points for Brighton, 2‑1 the final word against Manchester United in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

A row about effort at Brighton

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yankuba Minteh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

One of those days for Georginio Rutter

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

A satisfied Luke Ellis

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Luke Ellis could afford to be generous.

Market

Bart Verbruggen linked with a move away

The name of Bart Verbruggen keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Brighton say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

4 Edition

The Brighton Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Transfer targets

Too dear: Brighton walk away from Denis Bouanga

$24.6M was the most the club would pay and Los Angeles Football Club were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Player ratings

Both of them Georginio Rutter's — 9.13

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.13, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Stanislav Agkatsev is a Brighton player

The fee is $9.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Krasnodar drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Player ratings

Yankuba Minteh was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Othmane Maamma

Brighton asked and Watford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Burnley come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Brighton did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A move Stanislav Agkatsev would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Stanislav Agkatsev is living that version at Brighton, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Bart Verbruggen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Preston watching Matt O'Riley

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Brighton have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief

3 Edition

The Brighton Post

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Too dear: Brighton walk away from Iliman N'Diaye

$45.0M was the most the club would pay and Everton were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

Brighton agree $9.0M for Stanislav Agkatsev

The clubs have shaken hands with Krasnodar; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

An offer of $24.6M for Denis Bouanga

Brighton have gone to Los Angeles Football Club with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Galatasaray tell Brighton: Victor Osimhen is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Business is business: Ferdi Kadıoğlu goes

Manchester United paid $32.9M and Brighton took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Market

Stefanos Tzimas moves on

Everton pay $18.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

The terraces

A $32.9M sale, and a town that did not want it

Ferdi Kadıoğlu has gone, the accounts have $32.9M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Market

Brighton say no — this time

The offer from Preston for Matt O'Riley was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Words exchanged at Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

In brief

2 Edition

The Brighton Post

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

An offer of $45.0M for Iliman N'Diaye

Brighton have gone to Everton with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Brighton walk away from Jérémy Doku

$36.9M was the most the club would pay and Manchester City were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

An offer of $21.3M for Jack Clarke

Brighton have gone to Ipswich Town with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Brighton rebuffed over Eddie Nketiah

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Brighton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Brighton say no — this time

The offer from Atlético Madrid for Bart Verbruggen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Brighton get their man

The chase for Ben Nelson ended with $3.1M changing hands and Leicester City out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Market

Bart Verbruggen raises the bar for Brighton

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Brighton heard it as anything else.

Squad

Bart Verbruggen signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bart Verbruggen and Brighton agree another 5 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Brighton

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaoru Mitoma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

1 Edition

The Brighton Post

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Brighton say no — this time

The offer from Ajax for Kaoru Mitoma was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Lewis Dunk: 18 seasons and counting

471 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Brighton know exactly what they have.

Squad

Reiss Nelson gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Reiss Nelson has just signed for Brighton, and for once the answer mattered.

Market

Kaoru Mitoma wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Brighton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Kaoru Mitoma signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kaoru Mitoma commits to Brighton for another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Brighton

Pascal Groß and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief