Malick Yalcouye had only played 11 senior matches when Brighton & Hove Albion signed him from IFK Gothenburg in last summer’s transfer window.
Six months on from the midfielder’s £7.6million ($9.3m) switch to Brighton following a dalliance with Sweden’s top flight, the 19-year-old is starring in the Champions League on loan to Austrian side Sturm Graz and catching the eye of Fabian Hurzeler.
Brighton’s head coach is “a big, big fan” of Yalcouye, who is on course to increase the fierce competition for places in the centre of the park at the Amex Stadium in the Premier League next season.
It has been a remarkably rapid rise for the boy from Mali, recruited two years ago by Gothenburg from ASEC Mimosas in Ivory Coast, where Yalcouye grew up. Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure also came through Mimosas academy before beginning his career in Europe. Gothenburg trusted them to continue nurturing Yalcouye until they brought him to Europe in the January 2024 transfer window.
It did not take long for Brighton and others in Europe’s top leagues to note his progress as a central cog in Gothenburg’s 4-3-3 system. Physically strong for his tender age and slender frame, Yalcouye demonstrated a strong defensive mindset, excelling as a ball-winning midfielder.
At Gothenburg, he showcased anticipation, athleticism and the ability to disrupt opponents’ play, using his body effectively to protect the ball. Two-footed in possession, he handled tight spaces comfortably and drove forward capably.
Malick Yalcouye joined Brighton in July (Brighton and Hove Albion)
Bells rang in Brighton’s recruitment department, loudly enough to sign Yalcouye on a five-year deal. Moises Caicedo displayed many of the same attributes in Ecuador with Independiente del Valle before they turned him from a £4million rookie into a British-record £115m buy by Chelsea, as did 21-year-old Cameroon midfielder Carlos Baleba, who was bought as a raw recruit from Lille for £26million in 2023 and is bossing Hurzeler’s midfield this season.
Hurzeler had close-up experience of Yalcouye’s rich potential on Brighton’s pre-season tour of Japan last summer, with the teenager making substitute appearances against J1 League sides Kashima Antlers and Tokyo Verdy.
Hurzeler, speaking to The Athletic about Yalcouye before his team’s 2-0 win at Ipswich Town last week, said: “I’m a big, big fan of him. Because I experienced (in Japan) a young player who comes from a different culture, who was not speaking the language perfectly, and understands the game in a really special way.
“Especially for his very young age. He is so competitive, has such a good understanding of game situations, and that is something special for such a young player. He always gives 100 per cent.
“When he was here, he trained as if it was his last session. That is exactly what a young player needs to do: use every game, every training, every minute that he can be outside on the pitch. He is a role model for that, which is why I am a big fan.”
Last August, two days after Hurzeler included Yalcouye on the bench for a 4-0 home win in the Carabao Cup against Crawley Town, he was sent on loan to Sturm Graz for the season. It is a club Brighton know well. Former Netherlands Under-21s goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen is in his second season in succession on loan to the Austrian Bundesliga champions.
Yalcouye has taken more steps forward with Sturm, scoring two goals and recording two assists in 18 games. Six of those appearances came in the Champions League, including five in the starting line-up and three games where he played the full 90 minutes.
Yalcouye in action against Brest in the Champions League in September (Fred Tanneau/AFP via Getty Images)
Valuable experience was gained against Borussia Dortmund (a 1-0 loss) and Sporting Lisbon (Sturm were beaten 2-0 at home) but home matches are being played 85 miles away at the Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt as Sturm’s Merkur Arena does not meet competition requirements.
Yalcouye’s form has been unaffected by a change of head coach, with 40-year-old former Sturm midfielder Jurgen Saumel having stepped up from the youth and reserve teams after Christian Ilzer moved to Germany in November to take charge of Hoffenheim.
Michael Lorber, writing about Yalcouye in December for Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, which covers Sturm, said: “The midfielder played brilliantly, as if he were a 30-year-old veteran with 400 professional games under his belt. In short: Yalcouye is actually too good for Austria’s Bundesliga as he stands out from the best domestic team.”
Despite a crippling injury list, midfield numbers at Brighton are still high, so the club ultimately resisted the temptation of a January recall for Yalcouye. With Austria’s domestic fixtures still on pause for their winter break, he featured last night in Sturm’s return to Champions League action away against the Serie A title contenders Atalanta.
It was an evening of hard graft, mainly without possession, at the Gewiss Stadium for Yalcouye and his team-mates in their first competitive outing since losing 3-2 at Lille in the competition on December 11. Training camps and friendlies in Spain and Slovenia were not exactly ideal preparation for the tall order facing them against Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, who are bound for the knockout stages.
Yalcouye had to cover a lot of ground, alternating between central and wide areas. On one occasion in the first half, he won the ball back quickly after an attempted pass through a tight space was intercepted. That was a tick, because Hurzeler pays a lot of attention to how players react after a mistake.
Former Everton winger Andrea Lookman pepped up Atalanta’s attack from the bench after the break. Yalcouye was substituted in the 69th minute, with his team trailing 5-0, before Atalanta ran out convincing 4-0 winners. Sturm are near the bottom of the group table with three points from seven games, so Yalcouye’s Champions League journey ends with a home fixture against RB Leipzig at the end of January. Domestically, Sturm are leading the table in their bid to retain the title.
“It was completely the right decision to give him a loan at a club where he develops,” says Hurzeler. “He has used this chance so far in a very impressive way. We follow him, we are really happy with him. Let’s see what happens in the summer.”
(Top photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)
