Roberto De Zerbi has revealed the cheeky message he sent Jan Paul van Hecke before eventually reuniting with the defender at Tottenham, adding another layer to a summer that completely reshaped Brighton’s back line.
Van Hecke had already damaged De Zerbi’s survival hopes before becoming one of his summer priorities.
During Brighton’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham in April, the Dutchman won possession inside the Spurs area before teeing up Georginio Rutter for a 95th-minute equaliser.
Months later, De Zerbi has revealed he reminded his former player of that moment when pushing him towards north London.
Speaking to The Times about his Tottenham rebuild, the Italian joked that Van Hecke had tried to send Spurs down and therefore now had “no choice” but to join him.
The approach worked.
Van Hecke departure reshaped Brighton defence
Tottenham eventually paid Brighton £52million for Van Hecke, with Albion also securing a 20% sell-on clause.
It was a huge return on a player signed from NAC Breda for around £1.8m in 2020, but replacing him still represented a major task for Fabian Hürzeler.
Brighton responded aggressively.
Luka Vušković arrived from Tottenham in a club-record deal worth an initial £46m, potentially rising to £50m. Sky Sports reported that Brighton had already seen an earlier £45m package rejected before finally reaching an agreement.
The 19-year-old therefore travelled in the opposite direction to Van Hecke without the two deals being directly linked.
Brighton have also added further defensive experience. ReadBrighton recently looked at Pascal Struijk’s reasons for joining the club, with the former Leeds defender buying into Hürzeler’s project and Brighton’s return to Europe.
Meanwhile, ReadBrighton has already examined the one area Vušković believes he still needs to improve as the teenager prepares for his first season on the south coast.
Brighton may have turned one big sale into a new-look defence
Losing Van Hecke was significant.
He developed into one of Brighton’s most dependable defenders and his previous relationship with De Zerbi made Tottenham an obvious threat once serious interest developed.
But Albion have rarely been afraid to move on from valuable players when the numbers make sense.
Van Hecke departed for £52m.
Vušković arrived as one of Europe’s most highly-rated young centre-backs, while Struijk adds Premier League experience and balance on the left.
De Zerbi got the defender he wanted.
Brighton, meanwhile, used another major departure as the starting point for the next version of their defence.
