RECORD TRANSFER THAT HAS BRIGHTON GOING DUTCH
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT BRIGHTON’S £14.1m SIGNING JURGEN LOCADIA?
THE Dutch 24-year-old arrived at Brighton with big expectations. Chris Hughton smashed the club’s transfer record to sign the striker, who scored nine goals for PSV Eindhoven in the first half of the season. In one game against Utrecht, Locadia scored four goals in a 70-minute period. He also created six goals for his PSV team-mates this season before his January transfer.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTBALL AND TWO DUTCH TITLES AT PSV, HOW DID BRIGHTON SIGN HIM?
MONEY helps, of course, and Brighton’s pursuit was also aided by the fact Brighton midfielder Davy Propper is a former PSV team-mate of Locadia. His goal record is impressive, having scored 45 and assisted 34 in 127 PSV league games. Forty-five of those appearances, however, were off the bench. Free-spending Wolves considered a bid last summer but Brighton poached him in January, despite a hamstring injury that has kept him out of the picture until now.
HOW DID HE FARE AGAINST COVENTRY?
LOCADIA appeared powerful, pacy and was punishing in the final third. His movement was sharp, pulling off the Coventry defence to fire in the opening goal. But manager Hughton will know the Dutchman needs to be more clinical in the Premier League.
AND HE SEEMS TO BE A BIT LIVELY OFF THE PITCH?
LOCADIA has spoken openly about a difficult upbringing in which his parents separated when he was two years old. One of his many tattoos is in memory of his late grandmother, who kept him out of trouble. When asked by the local media last week where he would be without football, Locadia said: ‘I’d have probably been a criminal.’ In 2015, when Locadia was agitating to leave PSV, he told director Toon Gerbrands that he would pay for the elderly gentleman to have a tattoo done if he allowed the player to leave the club. Upon his transfer to Brighton, Gerbrands tweeted that he will not be taking up the offer with the hashtag #generationaldifference.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?
WHEN Locadia was injured last season, he developed his passion for music. On his own record label Nardo Music, he brought out singles Take Off and EPOK and was then signed up by Powerhouse Music, who brought out Can’t Let Go in August. Now Locadia must strike the right note on the pitch.