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Brighton sign Harper







Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,888
West west west Sussex
Interesting interview on the club site - confirms that the club is well regarded in Spain:

New Brighton & Hove Albion striker Jack Harper plans to use a mix of Spanish flair and Scottish grit to breakthrough into Chris Hughton's first-team plans.

The Scotland under-19 international spent the past six seasons with Real Madrid; and last season played for the Spanish giants Juvenil A side in the UEFA Youth League.


He wore the famous all-white kit against the likes of Liverpool and FC Basel, and feels his Spanish grounding gives him the platform to make his move to Albion a success.


He told seagulls.co.uk, "I've got experience of playing in a different country and I'm ready to bring it to England. I would say that I'm a natural goalscorer; I've got the natural Spanish technique, but I work like a Scotsman!

"It was a great experience to be playing against some of the top sides in Europe last season, but I want more first-team football and it was getting quite complicated at Real Madrid.

"I was keen for a move, but I wasn't sure where to go. I had a few options, and one of the scouts in Spain painted a really good picture of Brighton & Hove Albion and everything he told me has been the case.

"Talking with my family and my agent, I felt that this was the best option for my future. Brighton is a club on the rise, so it was perfect situation for me to go forward."


The 19-year-old, has met some of his new teammates at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre, is currently sidelined with a minor knee injury, but is aiming for a swift return.

He added, "I want to get over this short-term injury, which should be just over a month.

"I'm looking to do well with under-21s and then hopefully get a chance in the first-team before Christmas.

"Gordon Greer already welcomed me to the club when I arrived, *by scything me down from behind and screaming at the bloke next to him*, he was a great help and is a really nice guy. He's someone who made his name here at the club and it's something that I would like to do as well.

"I've also spoken to Tomer, who is represented by the same agency as me, and he said how much he enjoys it here and explained that it was a great place to play football.

"I was told about what this club is like now, but I couldn't believe it until I got here. The training complex is brilliant and the club is ready for the Premier League."
...
 


DataPoint

Well-known member
Mar 31, 2015
449
Some years ago, Brighton signed some skinny, unproven, non-league player from Burton Albion. Turned out to be arguably be the most thrilling player ever to wear the Brighton shirt - Peter Ward! - If you're too young to have been around during this era - you missed something special! .......You never know! ......You just never, never know ........ you just have to do all do the right things - and hope!
 




portslade seagull

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2003
17,947
portslade
Some years ago, Brighton signed some skinny, unproven, non-league player from Burton Albion. Turned out to be arguably be the most thrilling player ever to wear the Brighton shirt - Peter Ward! - If you're too young to have been around during this era - you missed something special! .......You never know! ......You just never, never know ........ you just have to do all do the right things - and hope!

It must be time something like this happened again
 




Jim Van Winkle

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2010
3,125
Hawaii
Well played the club this is a very exciting prospect. Glad to see our scouting network is casting its net far and wide. Also, having the clubs reputation as a place where young players at larger clubs with talent can come with better opportunities for first team football is great. Can't wait for the AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Barcelona and Bayern players to start arriving.
 


daveinprague

New member
Oct 1, 2009
12,572
Prague, Czech Republic
If the hype is to be believed, I think he might be the 'Tex' replacement. Best of all, he is ours, and not a loan. Im hoping we have managed something great here.
 








Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
62,403
Location Location
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ismic-spending-harming-youth-development.html

Real Madrid lost a prodigious talent in Jack Harper to Brighton... is their seismic spending harming youth development?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-harming-youth-development.html#ixzz3h5T6Remh
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


Both Real Madrid and Barcelona's youth teams are playing in the third division of Spanish football, something symptomatic of a wider problem

The low-level experience on offer is counter-productive to the development of young academy players

Meanwhile, the two clubs continue to spend heavily in the transfer market

That Madrid have lost a prodigious young talent in Jack Harper to English Championship side Brighton, is a stark reminder of the situation

Of Madrid's current squad, only one academy graduate in Alvaro Arbeloa, can claim to hold down a regular first-team place

Real scrapped their C-team set-up earlier this summer



When Brighton and Hove Albion are signing players from Real Madrid you know something's up in the transfer market.
Scotland Under-19 international Jack Harper's move to the Championship side is part of a growing trend that has also seen 22-year-old Real Madrid B-team defender Derik Osede sign for Bolton this summer and Cristian Benavente follow him moving from Madrid to Milton Keynes Dons.

Barcelona's 19-year-old Morrocan winger Moha El Ouriachi has joined Stoke and another of the club's promising forwards Adama Traore is wanted by Bayern Munich's former Barca coach Pep Guardiola. West Ham want 19-year-old playmaker Alen Halilovic too. And Everton, who have already taken Barca B winger Gerard Deulofeu, are also interested in the Croatian.

As Barcelona's B-team slip into the third tier of Spanish football after last season's relegation and Real Madrid's Castilla side get ready for another year at the same level after failing to win promotion, both Spanish giants have a problem: there is an excess of good youngsters but no way of properly developing them because the clubs' youth sides play at such a low level.

Real Madrid even axed their C-team this summer – it's the side Harper might have played for but instead he was offered the chance to accept a contract with Real Madrid Castilla and then be loaned out to another club.

Faced with the prospect of a season of uncertainty at a club that was only borrowing him from Madrid he accepted the challenge of a two-year deal at Brighton.

He was highly-rated at Real but what could they do? He would not have been truly tested in the regional fourth division where Real Madrid C would have played had they not been closed down.

But there is over-booking at Castilla level and they are also a level below Spain's second division where they need to be to be really honing the talents of young players.

The best Real could do was offer Harper a B-team contract and a loan out somewhere – a rough deal that made it easy for Brighton manager Chris Hughton to persuade him to sign for the Seagulls.

Real scrapping its C-team has been interpreted as another sign of the club's preference for big-money signings over home-grown players. In truth the move doesn't really rank alongside Atletico Madrid's decision to scrap its entire youth system in 1992.

That saw them lose Raul to Real Madrid – the theory at Valdebebas is that the very best youngsters will still make it but if Harper goes on to be a top player Real could yet finish up regretting the downsizing.

It is harder than ever for a young player to make it all the way to the first team – of the current squad Alvaro Arbeloa is the only example and he needed a spell in the now defunct C-team while he developed.

Barcelona were once the antithesis of Real's policy of buying the finished product as opposed to moulding their own superstars.

But the decision to spend almost £40m on midfielder Arda Turan this summer is a vote against both Rafinha and Sergi Roberto and an indication of how the tide has also turned on the Mediterranean coast. No one has successfully come through as a first-team regular at Barcelona since Pedro and Sergio Busquets in 2008.

With so few making it from the under-11s to the first XI and the volume of hopeful youngsters drawn into the two clubs' academies still high, it's little wonder that there are so many well-schooled teenagers to be picked off by English Championship sides who have the money and the status to make offers that are too good to be turned down.

Harper will not have dreamed of playing for Brighton when he first signed for Madrid but with Real only offering him lower-league regional football in Spain, the Championship was a glamorous and lucrative option.
 


albionite

Well-known member
May 20, 2009
2,762
Interesting that Cristian Benavente has gone to MK Dons. Will have to see how he adapts to English football supposed to be the Peruvian Ronaldinho.
Must be more players with potential we can poach of these two giants.
 




Seasidesage

New member
May 19, 2009
4,467
Brighton, United Kingdom
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ismic-spending-harming-youth-development.html

Real Madrid lost a prodigious talent in Jack Harper to Brighton... is their seismic spending harming youth development?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-harming-youth-development.html#ixzz3h5T6Remh
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


Both Real Madrid and Barcelona's youth teams are playing in the third division of Spanish football, something symptomatic of a wider problem

The low-level experience on offer is counter-productive to the development of young academy players

Meanwhile, the two clubs continue to spend heavily in the transfer market

That Madrid have lost a prodigious young talent in Jack Harper to English Championship side Brighton, is a stark reminder of the situation

Of Madrid's current squad, only one academy graduate in Alvaro Arbeloa, can claim to hold down a regular first-team place

Real scrapped their C-team set-up earlier this summer



When Brighton and Hove Albion are signing players from Real Madrid you know something's up in the transfer market.
Scotland Under-19 international Jack Harper's move to the Championship side is part of a growing trend that has also seen 22-year-old Real Madrid B-team defender Derik Osede sign for Bolton this summer and Cristian Benavente follow him moving from Madrid to Milton Keynes Dons.

Barcelona's 19-year-old Morrocan winger Moha El Ouriachi has joined Stoke and another of the club's promising forwards Adama Traore is wanted by Bayern Munich's former Barca coach Pep Guardiola. West Ham want 19-year-old playmaker Alen Halilovic too. And Everton, who have already taken Barca B winger Gerard Deulofeu, are also interested in the Croatian.

As Barcelona's B-team slip into the third tier of Spanish football after last season's relegation and Real Madrid's Castilla side get ready for another year at the same level after failing to win promotion, both Spanish giants have a problem: there is an excess of good youngsters but no way of properly developing them because the clubs' youth sides play at such a low level.

Real Madrid even axed their C-team this summer – it's the side Harper might have played for but instead he was offered the chance to accept a contract with Real Madrid Castilla and then be loaned out to another club.

Faced with the prospect of a season of uncertainty at a club that was only borrowing him from Madrid he accepted the challenge of a two-year deal at Brighton.

He was highly-rated at Real but what could they do? He would not have been truly tested in the regional fourth division where Real Madrid C would have played had they not been closed down.

But there is over-booking at Castilla level and they are also a level below Spain's second division where they need to be to be really honing the talents of young players.

The best Real could do was offer Harper a B-team contract and a loan out somewhere – a rough deal that made it easy for Brighton manager Chris Hughton to persuade him to sign for the Seagulls.

Real scrapping its C-team has been interpreted as another sign of the club's preference for big-money signings over home-grown players. In truth the move doesn't really rank alongside Atletico Madrid's decision to scrap its entire youth system in 1992.

That saw them lose Raul to Real Madrid – the theory at Valdebebas is that the very best youngsters will still make it but if Harper goes on to be a top player Real could yet finish up regretting the downsizing.

It is harder than ever for a young player to make it all the way to the first team – of the current squad Alvaro Arbeloa is the only example and he needed a spell in the now defunct C-team while he developed.

Barcelona were once the antithesis of Real's policy of buying the finished product as opposed to moulding their own superstars.

But the decision to spend almost £40m on midfielder Arda Turan this summer is a vote against both Rafinha and Sergi Roberto and an indication of how the tide has also turned on the Mediterranean coast. No one has successfully come through as a first-team regular at Barcelona since Pedro and Sergio Busquets in 2008.

With so few making it from the under-11s to the first XI and the volume of hopeful youngsters drawn into the two clubs' academies still high, it's little wonder that there are so many well-schooled teenagers to be picked off by English Championship sides who have the money and the status to make offers that are too good to be turned down.

Harper will not have dreamed of playing for Brighton when he first signed for Madrid but with Real only offering him lower-league regional football in Spain, the Championship was a glamorous and lucrative option.

What would worry me most about that is that Harper has only a two year contract. If he takes up to say Christmas to come up to speed, but then has a storming 2nd half to the season. We would be left with a player we want, but others are alerted too who only has 12 months left on his contract. Seems all the risk is with us really...

Unless there is an option of course...
 


8ace

Banned
Jul 21, 2003
23,811
Brighton
What would worry me most about that is that Harper has only a two year contract. If he takes up to say Christmas to come up to speed, but then has a storming 2nd half to the season. We would be left with a player we want, but others are alerted too who only has 12 months left on his contract. Seems all the risk is with us really...

Unless there is an option of course...

Wouldn't his age prevent him from being able to leave on a free ???
 








Uncle C

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2004
11,711
Bishops Stortford
Actually I'm as happy as you'll ever get....next?

You really need help

valium-diazepam1.jpg
 








severnside gull

Well-known member
May 16, 2007
24,825
By the seaside in West Somerset
Nandos at the Goldstone Retail Park...Does the lad not know his history?! :ffsparr:

Stitched up by some clever marketing boys. Not his fault but I've now added Nando's to my boycott list (not hard as I've never eaten one).
 




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