Brighton and Hove Albion have sent teenage midfielder Malick Yalcouye to Swansea City on loan for the season.
The 19-year-old makes the move from the Seagulls to the Swans just over two months after playing his first international match for the Ivory Coast U23 side.
Albion said: “The midfielder spent the 2024-25 campaign in Austria with Sturm Graz where he won the Austrian Bundesliga and the league’s Young Player of the Year award.”
Albion technical director David Weir said: “Malick had an excellent season in Austria which was recognised with the league title and the individual award he picked up.
“Now he has the exciting opportunity to show what he’s about in the Championship. We will be monitoring his progress throughout the year.”
Albion signed Yalcouye on a five-year contract in July last year from IFK Gothenburg in a deal worth about £6 million.
He was born in Mali – in Bandiagara, about 250 miles south of Timbuktu – and raised in the Ivory Coast where he came through the academy at ASEC Mimosas in the old capital Abidjan.
From there, he joined Gothenburg for a brief spell before being snapped up by Brighton, heading straight out on loan to the Austrian champions Sturm Graz and Champions League football. The club retained their domestic title during his stint there.
When joined Brighton last summer, head coach Fabian Hürzeler said: “We are really pleased to bring Malick to the club.
“He is a talented midfielder with lots of potential to develop into a top-class player.
“He’s excited about this next stage of his career and we’re looking forward to helping him progress.”
Swansea head coach Alan Sheehan said: “He is a player who has got a lot of ability and a wonderful energy.
“We want good players here, the right people, and for him to buy into the project and want to be here, it’s a wonderful signing for the season ahead.
“I think he is player who can play as a six, eight or 10. I think he can play on the sides as well.
“He is a player who is full of energy and has a great intensity to his play but also he’s technically a very good player.
“To add a player like that to the squad, we are absolutely delighted.
“He has played for Brighton in pre-season. He had a really successful period out on loan at Sturm Graz and I’d been aware of him since he was at Göteborg.
“We want to evolve him and improve him and integrate him into our surroundings and our culture so he can be an asset for us.”
