Dan Ashworth’s departure could be the first gust of the winds of change at Brighton

On Monday it was confirmed Dan Ashworth had resigned as Brighton and Hove Albion’s technical director after three and a half years in the role.

Ashworth, the former technical director of the Football Association, has been heavily linked with taking up a similar role with Newcastle United since December, and is believed to have been placed on gardening leave as the two Premier League rivals negotiate a compensation package for his services.

Given the impact he had in helping Brighton progress as a football club over the past few seasons, it is understandable the club’s hierarchy were unwilling to see the 50-year-old leave on a cheap.

Ashworth played a key role in attracting Graham Potter to The Amex Stadium in May 2019, and was also heavily influential in supporting the playing philosophy that currently has the Seagulls pushing for a top-half finish.

He has also helped to maintained a footballing structure that has seen Brighton’s playing talent flourish across the women’s side and age-group teams, as well as the men’s team.

The former Norwich youth team player’s background in developing young players meant he was important in carving out pathways for the likes of Ben White and Robert Sanchez to establish themselves as first-team regulars after loan spells in the Football League.

Ashworth has been credited with playing a significant role in developing the ‘England DNA’ project during his time with the FA between 2012 and 2018, helping to nurture the group of players that have reached a World Cup semi-final and European Championship final under the guidance of Gareth Southgate – offering another insight as to why Newcastle’s new ownership group are so keen to acquire his services.

“I had lots of calls and conversations with Dan, I understood his position, it was a really tough decision for him.

“He has got his family and his reasons, you have to respect that Dan is his own man, he’s an intelligent man, he understands how good it is here, but at the same time, he’s got another opportunity.

“You have to respect that, that’s how it is, then you’ve got to trust that he will make the decision for him and then it’s up to the club to sort the rest of it out. I respect Dan, what he has done for us, the decision he has made, and wish him well.”

– Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Graham Potter

The footballing structure at Brighton means that former Scotland international David Weir was primed to step in as technical director on an interim basis by the time Ashworth’s departure was confirmed, with the situation set to be re-assessed at the end of the current season.

The outgoing technical director was not the only individual at the Amex attracting admiring glances from elsewhere throughout January though.

Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard last week confirmed that the Midlands club had seen a bid turned down for Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma during the transfer window, as speculation regarding the Malian international’s future intensifies.

Bissouma showed his importance to Potter’s side during the 3-1 defeat at Tottenham in the fourth round of the FA Cup last weekend, and his consistently excellent performances that stretch back to before the start of the current season, combined with the fact Bissouma is now into the last 18 months of his contract, have seen the list of potential suitors for his signature grow.

It is natural for a club of Brighton’s current standing to have to accept their most impressive players will be of interest to wealthier rivals, but the on-field success enjoyed whilst Bissouma was with his country at the recent African Cup of Nations shows there is usually a contingency plan in place for potential departures.

This has also been exemplified by the way in which Ben White’s move to Arsenal last summer for a club-record fee preceded the Seagulls’ best ever start to a Premier League campaign.

However, it is not just Bissouma who is coming towards the end of his current deal among the members of Potter’s squad.

Danny Welbeck and Pascal Gross are both out of contract in the summer, and whilst neither can be considered as important to the team’s fortunes on the pitch as Bissouma, they have made 30 appearances between them this season and have provided important contributions in a successful campaign so far.

It is the contracts that expire in the same summer as Bissouma that are potentially a greater concern.

The deals of experienced heads Shane Duffy, Joel Veltman and Adam Lallana are all up in 2023, but there are also a collection of current first-teamers in their prime that have just 18 months left on their current contracts.

The fact that Neal Maupay, Leandro Trossard and Alexis Mac Allister only have a year-and-a-half left on their respective deals will be most worrying for Brighton fans.

Between the three of them, they have scored 17 of the team’s 25 Premier League goals this season. Striker Maupay is having his best season in front of goal for the club so far, Trossard has taken his game to a new level after only showing flashes of brilliance in his first two campaigns on the south coast, and Mac Allister has had something of  a breakthrough in recent months, establishing himself as a goal-scoring presence in midfield.

It is quite possible that at least one of them would have moved on from the club for a significant transfer fee before now had the finances of clubs across Europe not been decimated by Covid-19. Losing the trio for free would undermine an important element of Brighton’s transfer strategy.

The club’s ability to replace outgoing players and rejuvenate the playing squad is of course determined by incoming revenue, and therefore losing three important players for nothing would likely limit their capacity to find suitable replacements.

Southampton boss Ralph Hassenhuttl spoke in midweek about how the ‘trend’ of players running down their contracts to allow them to acquire a greater signing-on fee to split with their agent, rather than bringing in a transfer fee to the benefit of the club, had been frustrating him.

With Brighton in a not-too-dissimilar situation to their south coast rivals, Potter could soon be experiencing a similar feeling. However, the Seagulls are better equipped than most to deal with the departure of key players.

The amount of promising talent on their books was amalgamated by the January purchases of Polish midfielder Kacper Kozlowski and German forward Deniz Undav. Moises Caicedo’s recent involvement with the first team, after returning from a loan spell at Belgian side Beerschot, is further evidence of the creative pathways Ashworth established to help the club recruit and develop players from across the globe.

Bringing in established top-flight talent is difficult for a club with Brighton’s budget and there is no guarantee the new additions will end up becoming as popular as Bissouma, Maupay or Trossard, but at one point they were all unproven at Premier League level.

It is not certain anyone will be leaving yet though. Although it is so often the movement of players that captures the imagination, given the role Ashworth played in helping to identify, recruit and develop many of the Seagulls’ top performers, how Brighton replace their outgoing technical director is likely to be even more important than what happens to any of the individuals approaching the end of their contracts.

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