Malick Yalcouyé is now a Brighton & Hove Albion player, and whilst he’ll be missed at IFK Gothenburg, and in Swedish football generally, there’s a lot of excitement around the transfer.
It’s something of a shame the 18-year-old wasn’t able to show more of his stuff in the Allsvenskan than he did, but when a youngster starts showing the level of promise Yalcouyé was then it’s not long before the Premier League starts calling.
Sunday’s edition of Göteborgs-Posten has a look at the transfer and how brilliant it has been financially. It’s the ‘biggest sale of all time’ for IFK Gothenburg, and whilst the Swedish club don’t want to confirm the specifics of the financials, the newspaper reports the transfer is worth about SEK100m.
That’s roughly £7.3m, so not so huge for Brighton but clearly massive for Swedish football.
IFK Gothenburg’s technical director Ola Larsson is quoted as saying: “It’s enormous fun. At the same time, he has left a good impression on the club both as a player and as a person. Many people like him. Now I pass the reception here at Kamratgården …we have a screen where a report about him is playing. He is still present in that way.
“But with everything else in relation to how we did the deal together, how we worked so well together, everyone from the board, club management, the sport and agency. It has been a very nice collaboration. All that is only positive.
“We are very satisfied with the sum. It is a deal of great pride in a Swedish context. For Brighton it is a lot of money, but at the same time a normal transfer. In the Swedish context there is … you can’t even … no, so you can count similar deals on one hand, really. Very few have been at this level.”
Larsson went on to suggest that whilst the club isn’t sure what to do with the money, they appreciate their patient supporters and there was a hint of investing it back into players.
Yalcouyé is being praised highly and it’s clear he left a mark on the Swedish side, on and off the pitch, and there’s nothing but genuine enthusiasm about him succeeding at Brighton and in the Premier League.
