Brighton made headlines when they sacked the majority of their scouting team midway through the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Since arriving in the Premier League in 2017, the south-coast club have consistently punched above their weight, building to top-half finishes in 2021/22 and 2022/23.
The latter of those seasons resulted in a Europa League campaign in 2023/24.
Only five teams have a lower player payroll than the Seagulls in 2024/25. They finished sixth in 2022/23 despite having the third-smallest wage bill.
Other teams rapidly increase their wage expenditure when they are trying to – or already have – consolidated themselves as a Premier League team.
Brighton, through an almost unique recruitment strategy, have avoided paying sky-high wages, yet have remained very competitive on the pitch.
The Seagulls, according to Spotrac, have never been higher than 14th in payroll. They are, however, consistently a value option for a top-six finish in Premier League betting and are always worth backing for a top-half place.
This has been achieved despite relatively regular managerial changes; swapping the steady Chris Hughton for Graham Potter, bringing in Roberto De Zerbi when Potter went to Chelsea, and replacing De Zerbi with the inexperienced but impressive Fabian Hürzeler.
Use Of Analytics
Tony Bloom is Brighton owner, a lifelong fan, and a professional sports bettor. Bloom is part of a large betting syndicate which has amassed year-on-year profits, helping him to build the fortune required to own a club of Brighton’s stature.
Data has been the bedrock of Bloom’s success as in betting. He brought that approach to Brighton, taking the club over in 2009 as a League One outfit before leading them to the Championship and then the Premier League.
Bloom has close ties with Jamestown Analytics, who are credited with much of Brighton’s success on the recruitment front.
Jamestown are a secretive sports analytics organisation. Their website doesn’t give much away other than describing themselves as “The world leader when it comes to football player and head coach data analysis.”
Brighton were trail-blazers with the use of analytics. Bloom brought his knowledge from the betting world into Football League and Premier League, enabling Brighton to punch well above their financial weight.
All of Brighton’s recruitment is informed by analytics, which has enabled them to make significant cuts to their traditional scouting team.
The process Brighton follow when analysing and signing players is kept under wraps.
Every club would love to get their hands on the recipe, but it’s a secret sauce for the time being, which goes far beyond the data available on sites like WhoScored and FB Reference.
Recruitment Philosophies
Brighton’s recruitment always has an eye on the future. You will rarely see them chasing an established name, even if that’s what some of their peers in the football betting markets are doing.
Brighton give a large share of their Premier League minutes to players under 24 years of age.
This means they are buying players with room to grow, and players who should be worth more in the future. It also enables them to sign young talent, loan them out, and either embed them in their first-team squad, or sell for a profit.
There are misses in Brighton’s recruitment, such as Alireza Jahanbakhsh. The Seagulls compensate for this with volume.
Since Brighton got to the Premier League almost a decade ago, Chelsea are the only team to have signed more players.
Brighton have a conveyor belt of talent arriving at the Amex, meaning there are replacements when players are sold, and there are more young players ready to step into the first team at any moment.
It isn’t in the realm of hoarding talent like Chelsea have been guilty of – Brighton are simply planning for the future, making sure they have contingency plans.
This allows the club to make quick decisions when a player underperforms like Jahanbakhsh or suffers a long-term injury.
They are always ready to make the next move in the market, rather than waiting for a problem to develop in the first-team squad.
Brighton are consistently building around the same tactical structure, regardless of the manager.
Unlike the haphazard recruitment seen from some clubs, Brighton are only looking at players with the skillset to fill one or multiple roles in their system.
Perhaps most notably, the recruitment teams focuses on players with little to no experience in Europe’s major leagues. This – as other clubs have found – is a great way to find value in the transfer market.
Transfer fees are lower when buying from less wealthy clubs, and they are not likely to be gazumped by Manchester United or the rest of the Big Six.
Moisés Caicedo, for example, was plucked straight out of Ecuador’s top flight. Kaoru Mitoma, like Caicedo, was playing in his home country with Kawasaki Frontale when Brighton came calling.
Brighton can offer Premier League minutes to players who otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity, and the club has become an excellent stepping stone for players like Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, and Alexis Mac Allister.
Biggest Success Stories
Caicedo, Mitoma, Mac Allister, and Cucurella are three of Brighton’s biggest success stories. Three of those players were sold for massive profits, while Mitoma has become one of the best players outside the Premier League’s Big Six.
Brighton – unlike many of fellow Premier League sides – are making a significant profit.
This feeds the recruitment cycle, allowing the club to reinvest in the first team through the massive revenue they generate from sales like Caicedo and Cucurella.
Yves Bissouma, Leandro Trossard, Robert Sánchez, and Ben White have also brought sizeable transfer fees.
Money has subsequently been reinvested in Enock Mwepu, Billy Gilmour, Facundo Buonanotte, Yankuba Minteh, and various others.
Gilmour was quickly sold to Napoli for a profit. Others are bound to be moved on in the years to come, likely for much greater transfer fees.
There have been misses along the way. Brighton signed, loaned out, and sold Viktor Gyökeres, who is now one of the most in-demand strikers in European football.
Even some signings who seemed like misses have been an accounting success, however, like Deniz Undav, who was sold for a profit of over £15 million.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Adobe*
