Redemption was swift and sublime for Bart Verbruggen against Chelsea.
Six days after blundering to gift Cole Palmer a fifth-minute goal in the the FA Cup, the Brighton & Hove Albion No 1 provided an assist for a stunning touch and then strike by Kaoru Mitoma in the Premier League rematch between the teams.
Verbruggen picked out Mitoma’s run inside the Chelsea half with an inch-perfect pass. The Japanese left-winger controlled it superbly with his right foot before cutting inside Trevoh Chalobah to despatch a shot past Verbruggen’s opposite number Filip Jorgensen.
The goal in the 27th minute of Friday’s 3-0 win at the Amex Stadium produced only the second assist by a Brighton goalkeeper in the Premier League after Jason Steele also released Mitoma with a long pass in a 3-3 home draw against Brentford in April 2023.
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It was an ideal response from Verbruggen to bundling into his own net Cole’s cross in Brighton’s eventual 2-1 victory in the FA Cup fourth-round tie. Among those watching was Vebruggen’s Netherlands manager, Ronald Koeman, so it was an opportune moment for the 22-year-old to also get a third clean sheet at home in the league this season with an outstretched left boot to prevent a late own goal by Adam Webster.
Head coach Fabian Hurzeler said afterwards: “I also want to mention Verbruggen, his assist. It was a great pass and a great reaction from him. He showed personality, he showed character, after making a mistake last weekend.”
Verbruggen’s Brighton predecessor Robert Sanchez was another spectator — on the Chelsea bench. Sanchez has been replaced by Jorgensen after losing the backing of head coach Enzo Maresca. Switching to Stamford Bridge in search of bigger and better opportunities appeared to be a dream move for Sanchez 18 months ago, having lost his No 1 spot at Brighton to Steele under former head coach Roberto De Zerbi, but it has not turned out that way.
It has not been plain sailing for Verbruggen since joining from Anderlecht for £16million in July 2023 — a month before Sanchez was sold to Chelsea for £25million. He spent his first season sharing No 1 duties with the experienced Steele for Brighton’s entry to the Europa League under De Zerbi in 2023-24 (they each played in one leg in the 4-1 defeat by Roma on aggregate in the last 16).
Koeman confirmed Verbruggen as his first choice for the Netherlands over Brentford’s Mark Flekken before last summer’s European Championships in Germany. Verbruggen performed well, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to play at the tournament for 60 years against Poland in the group stages en route to a 2-1 defeat by England in the semi-finals.
Away from the international stage, it has been a mixed bag this season for Verbruggen since Hurzeler abandoned De Zerbi’s rotation policy and named him as his No 1 over 34-year-old Steele. As well as his FA Cup error, Verbruggen has made four errors in the league leading to a goal, a figure exceeded only by Sanchez and Ipswich’s Arijanet Muric (both five).
The most recent mistakes in away defeats at Fulham in December (3-1) and earlier this month at Nottingham Forest (7-0) arose from errant passes out of his penalty area seized upon by the opposition. Verbruggen’s dashboard (below) shows what a difficult afternoon it was at Forest in Brighton’s heaviest league defeat in any division since 1958.
It has not all been bad. There have been other highlights along the way. Verbruggen was outstanding in a 1-0 win at upcoming FA Cup fifth-round hosts Newcastle in October and in a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth in November.
Hurzeler, speaking in his press conference on Thursday in the build-up to Chelsea’s league visit, made a prophetic statement about Verbruggen’s character, saying: “He is very stable. He will be stable in his mind and he will bounce back.”
According to Bild, Bayern Munich have been monitoring Verbruggen as a potential successor to 38-year-old German icon Manuel Neuer. Even if there is not concrete interest from Bayern — or any other club for that matter — in Verbruggen in the summer, there are uncertainties about how Brighton’s goalkeeping department will look next season.
Carl Rushworth was back on the bench last night as cover for Verbruggen, with Steele recovering from shoulder surgery. Rushworth, recalled in January from a season-long loan with Hull City to cater for the absence of Steele, was ineligible for the FA Cup clash with Chelsea. That was because he had already played in the competition for Championship side Hull.
The highly rated 23-year-old, a former England under-21 international, has been loaned out in successive campaigns to Walsall (2021-22 League Two), Lincoln City (2022-23 League 1) and Swansea (2023-24 Championship), as well as Hull — where he was sidelined for three months by an ankle injury. Although Rushworth is yet to make a senior appearance for Brighton since signing from Halifax in 2019, he is highly thought of internally.
Hurzeler, asked by The Athletic on Thursday about Rushworth’s future, said: “We are very happy that Carl is back in our squad after the injury to Jason. Now it is about Carl improving every day in training. I am in touch with my goalkeeper coaches about all of my goalkeepers and I always want to hear about their performances in training.
“I am sure he has the potential — and he has proved it already in the past — that one day he can be a goalkeeper for us. It’s about showing the right character in training because of the potential he has, and it is also about the club making the right decisions regarding the future of Carl.”
Current England under-21 goalkeeper James Beadle is impressing on loan to Sheffield Wednesday for the season in the second tier. Brighton have young goalkeepers of high calibre, but Verbruggen showed second time around against Chelsea why he is top of the pile.
(Top photo: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
