Brighton have made waves this transfer window by signing some of the most exciting wonderkids on the market.
The Seagulls have swooped up Newcastle’s Yankuba Minteh, Feyenoord’s Mats Wieffer, Nordsjælland’s Ibrahim Osman, and Amario Cozier-Duberry from Arsenal.
As exciting as these signings have been, Brighton fans have been begging their club to sign some defenders, especially right backs. To their credit, the Seagulls have been listening.
Brighton have been linked to a number of strong right backs, including Turkey and Fenerbahçe star Ferdi Kadıoğlu and Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters. A leading Portuguese newspaper has added another name to this list of Brighton right back targets.
According to O Jogo, the Seagulls are interested in signing Benfica right back Alexander Bah. The Danish international joined the Eagles for €8m in June 2022. Benfica reportedly want €20m for Bah this summer. This is significantly lower than Fenerbahçe and Southampton’s asking prices for Kadıoğlu and Walker-Peters, respectively. Bah’s not much worse than those players though.
When available Bah has been one of Benfica’s most solid players. He’s one of the best attacking fullbacks outside of Europe’s top five leagues. He is also a very aggressive tackler who could adapt well to the speed of the Premier League. The problem with Bah is that he is not always available.
Since joining Benfica from Slavia Prague in 2022, Bah has missed 32 matches with injuries. Most significantly he missed three months of last season with a foot injury.
As exciting of a prospect as Bah is, Brighton do not need another injury prone right back. Tariq Lamptey was once one of Brighton’s most exciting wonderkids. Injuries have kept him from ever hitting his peak. Joel Veltman has also started to become more injury-prone as he has gotten older.
The Seagulls relied on a rotating squad of Veltman, Lamptey, and midfielders Pascall Gross and Jack Hinshelwood to play right back. This was part of the reason last year went so poorly for the Albion.
If Brighton want to challenge for Europe, they will need a high-quality right back they can rely on. Buying another injury-prone right back for €20m is too risky.
