Did you know Gyokeres and Jesse Lingard played at the Amex? Uncover the 6 forgotten Brighton players who become global stars.
Brighton & Hove Albion is universally respected across the footballing world as a club possessing one of the most elite scouting and data analysis systems in Europe. Backed by chairman Tony Bloom and the secretive internal algorithm “Starlizard”, the Amex Stadium has become the ultimate launchpad for highly profitable signings like Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Marc Cucurella.
However, the journey from an average Championship side to a formidable Premier League powerhouse also bears the marks of many other unpolished gems. There are individuals who arrived, trained quietly, went on endless loan spells, and left before truly becoming household names on the global football map.
Here is a list of 6 forgotten Brighton players who once wore the foggy south coast’s blue and white stripes.
1. Viktor Gyokeres
Viktor Gyokeres scored dozens of goals for Sporting CP to become a highly sought-after European “beast”, eventually landing his massive 2025 transfer to Arsenal. Yet, few remember that he joined Brighton in January 2018 from the tiny club IF Brommapojkarna.
During his time at Brighton from 2018-2021, Gyokeres primarily played for the U23s. The harsh environment of English football made it difficult for the young Nordic forward to adapt, and he made a mere 8 first-team appearances in domestic cup competitions.
Realizing this prospect needed real-world experience rather than warming the bench, the Brighton hierarchy continuously sent him on “educational” loan spells to FC St. Pauli, Swansea City, and later Coventry City.
The historic turning point occurred in the summer of 2021 when Coventry City bought Gyökeres outright for a bargain fee of around 1 million pounds. Letting this gem slip away is considered one of the rare transfer decisions where their data system misjudged explosive potential.
Currently, Gyokeres is undoubtedly one of the most famous lesser-known Brighton players in the world today.
2. Jesse Lingard
Flipping back through Lingard’s career file to early 2014, he had a short-term loan spell that was incredibly vital to Brighton’s history.
In late February 2014, Brighton was struggling in the race for a Championship promotion play-off ticket. Then-manager Oscar Garcia decided to loan the 21-year-old winger from Manchester United’s youth setup. Lingard instantly proved his class difference. Despite only having a brief 3-month stint at the Amex, he managed to play 17 matches, score 4 goals, and provide a series of crucial assists that tore opposition defenses apart.
Lingard’s brilliant performances directly helped Brighton finish 6th, miraculously entering the 2013-2014 play-offs. Although the team later fell to Derby County, this period helped Lingard forge a professional competitive mentality. This created a solid psychological foundation for him to return and be heavily utilized by Louis van Gaal at Manchester United.
Now navigating his late-career options as a free agent in 2026, his time at the Amex remains a hidden gem in his resume.
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3. Fikayo Tomori
Fikayo Tomori is currently one of the best ball-playing and fastest center-backs in Serie A, heavily contributing to AC Milan winning the Scudetto in the 2021-2022 season. However, before becoming a solid bedrock in Italy’s fashion capital, Tomori tasted the harshness of the English second tier, and Brighton was one of the very first stops to shape his defensive mindset.
In January 2017, at just 19 years old, Tomori joined Brighton on loan from Chelsea. This was a pivotal, historic season as the team was charging toward Premier League promotion. Although he was only thrown onto the pitch 9 times in the latter half of the season due to the incredibly stable duo of Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy, Tomori still considered this an “invaluable” experience.
When discussing players you forgot played for Brighton, Tomori’s brief developmental stint remains a fascinating footnote.
4. Ben White
Although Ben White is widely known globally as a proud product of the Brighton academy, obtaining a versatile 50-million-pound defender for Arsenal required him to endure an incredibly dark pathway.
Many mistakenly believe White was a “golden boy” from the start, but the truth is he was ruthlessly released by Southampton at the age of 16. To forge this somewhat “soft” playing-style player, Brighton did not give him first-team opportunities immediately.
Instead, White was pushed down to League Two to play for the obscure club Newport County in the 2017-2018 season. In this heavily traditional, physically aggressive English football environment, the elegant defender had to abandon all flair to learn how to survive among muscular strikers.
His patience was further tested during his time at Peterborough United, before having a historic, explosive 2019-2020 season at Leeds United under the genius molding of Marcelo Bielsa. Only when he had fully perfected his entire skillset did Ben White officially claim a starting spot at Brighton in the 2020-2021 season, quickly compelling Mikel Arteta to open the vault and bring him to the Emirates.
5. Robert Sanchez
Chelsea’s current number 1 goalkeeper did not have a career beginning paved with roses. Robert Sanchez moved from Spain to the Brighton academy in 2013.However, the goalkeeping position in England demands cold calculation and aerial experience – things a young Latin boy could not possess through mere practice.
Later, Brighton sent Sanchez out to Forest Green Rovers and then Rochdale. The grueling relegation-battling matches at dilapidated, muddy stadiums forged a brave, stubborn Sanchez – who was no longer afraid of aerial collisions.
When Graham Potter took charge of Brighton in 2020, he needed a ball-playing goalkeeper. Sanchez was immediately recalled, displacing the veteran Matthew Ryan to take the starting spot. He perfectly illustrates the club’s ruthless but effective loan strategy for lesser-known Brighton players before they break into the limelight.
6. Leo Ostigard
Another Serie A champion who used to wear the Brighton’s jersey.
Leo Ostigard is a rather unfortunate case with similarities to Gyokeres’s story. The Norwegian joined Brighton in 2018, bringing expectations of becoming a defensive leader.
However, Ostigard’s “accident” was arriving precisely when Brighton’s backline was more crowded than ever. With the appearance of Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, and later Dan Burn, Ostigard never made a single official Premier League appearance for the first team. He spent his entire youth at Brighton, packing his bags to play on loan across Europe: from FC St. Pauli, Coventry City, Stoke City to Genoa in Serie A.
Even though he could not compete for a spot at the Amex, those continuous friction experiences turned him into a hardened center-back. By 2026, after lifting a Serie A title with Napoli and experiencing loan spells in France with Rennes and Germany with Hoffenheim, he made his return to Italian football with Genoa.
He is a prime example of an obscure Brighton player finding success abroad.
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