Brighton and Hove Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler has called the club’s most expensive signing – £40 million Georginio Rutter – a game-changer as he prepares to face his previous club Leeds United.
Hürzeler gave a positive assessment of the 23-year-old Frenchman at a pre-match press conference, with Brighton due to host Leeds at the Amex at 3pm tomorrow (Saturday 1 November).
The head coach said: “I see a significant improvement but I see more potential in him. He’s capable of doing more decision-making actions on the pitch.
“It isn’t scoring goals. It’s about always being present, staying alive all the time and being a good worker against the ball. But we can all see that he’s made really good developments.
“He’s a game changer, not only on the pitch, but also besides the pitch with his behaviour, his attitude and his positivity. He’s a big win for us and hopefully he stays with us for a long time.
“I always say to him I’ve never judged him by his goals and assists. Of course, the media give the big attention to the individual players.
“They get the most rewards when they score goals and when they make assists. Players, since they were young, grow up in a system where they get attention and they get compliments for goals and assists.
“And this just continues so the players try to search for these kinds of things to get compliments from outside but for me that’s not the right thing.
“He should identify himself by his positivity, having a good impact on his teammates, by being a great teammate, by having good actions and just doing the things you can influence … and then the goals will come.”
Hürzeler also said that Danny Welbeck was good enough for an England recall at the age of 34, having scored five times in Brighton’s past four Premier League matches.
Welbeck last played for England in 2018 when he was at Arsenal.
The head coach said: “I asked the question to the squad whether Danny Welbeck can play for England and they all agreed (he can). That was the only time we’ve mentioned it.
“Let’s see what happens. I’m very convinced of my players and I have a big belief that Danny will be able to play for England.
“But I always try to emphasise that England has a great coach and he will make the right decisions. Let’s see.”
The Seagulls welcome Leeds to Falmer having been beaten 4-2 by Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Premier League last Saturday (25 October) and 2-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates in the League Cup on Wednesday.
Hürzeler is unsurprisingly looking for a positive response from his players. He said: “Every game is important. Of course, in the end, it’s about trying to win every game.
“But, on the other side, it’s about being there and focused on the small margins because if you focus on things you can’t control then the results won’t come.
“I’m 100 per cent convinced that we have the right characters, the right personalities and the right quality in our group to get results.
“There are so many factors that influence the results and the main factors you can influence you have to focus on – and that’s what we try to do.”
The match-day squad looks likely to stay the same, with Hürzeler saying: “I think it will be the same squad we had against Arsenal so no changes regarding this.
“Also, the players who are still affected by small issues still might not be available. There are small chances but I think that the squad from Arsenal will be the squad for tomorrow.”
Kaoru Mitoma is still among those recovering from injuries and the head coach: “He’s back on the pitch. He’s training. I don’t think that it’s a big issue. And I think we could see him before the international break.”
C’mon you Seagulls. UTA.