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Done dealUpdated 09:50 UK · 2 Sept

Chema Andrés to Brighton
Seagulls land rising Spanish midfielder

VfB StuttgartVfB StuttgartBrighton & Hove AlbionBrighton & Hove AlbionFee€22mReliability100%
The story so far
  1. 2 Sept
    Deal confirmed
    Brighton and Stuttgart both confirmed Chema Andrés's transfer, with the midfielder signing a five-year contract at the Amex.
  2. 1 Sept
    Fee agreed
    Brighton had a deadline-day bid worth more than €20m accepted by Stuttgart.

The move in full

Brighton have completed a deadline-day move for Stuttgart's Chema Andrés, paying more than €20m for the Real Madrid academy product.

Brighton & Hove Albion have completed the signing of Chema Andrés from VfB Stuttgart, with the Spanish midfielder signing a five-year contract at the Amex. The move came together quickly on transfer deadline day: Brighton had a bid worth more than €20m accepted within hours of submitting it, with the overall package, including add-ons, reported to rise above €23m. Both clubs confirmed the transfer, with Brighton's official website carrying a statement from sporting director Mike Cave and Stuttgart's board publicly thanking the 21-year-old for his season in Germany. It is Brighton's marquee piece of business in the closing hours of the window.

Brighton had 'been aware of Chema's potential for some time', according to Cave, who highlighted the midfielder's 'excellent pedigree' from Real Madrid's academy and 'a very good season' in the Bundesliga as reasons for the move. The timing also fits Brighton's needs: the club go into the new season already missing Minteh, Hinshelwood, Rutter, Mitoma, Tzimas, Ferguson and Ayari through injury, and Sunday's 4-3 defeat at Chelsea saw manager Fabian Hürzeler use centre-back Olivier Boscagli to screen the defence and shift Mats Wieffer out to right-back for lack of options in the middle. Andrés gives Hürzeler a recognised holding midfielder who can also play further forward or, if needed, at centre-back.

Stuttgart are losing a player who quickly made himself first-choice. Sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth said the Bundesliga club 'would have liked to keep' Andrés but accepted his wish to move to the Premier League once Brighton met their financial demands. 'Thanks in part to him, we were able to qualify for the Champions League and reach the cup final,' Wohlgemuth said. 'We thank Chema for his time with us and wish him every success in England.'

Andrés joined Stuttgart from Real Madrid last summer for around €3m and settled in fast, making 41 appearances in all competitions and scoring four goals as Stuttgart secured Champions League qualification and reached the DFB-Pokal final. He began the season as a squad option but grew into a regular in the middle of the pitch alongside club captain Atakan Karazor, operating as the deepest midfielder in Stuttgart's setup.

There is a Real Madrid subplot to the deal, too. Andrés came through Real Madrid's youth system before his move to Germany, and the Spanish club retained a buyback clause and a 50% sell-on interest when he left. Real Madrid chose not to trigger the buyback this summer, instead taking roughly €11.5m from Brighton's fee to Stuttgart.

At Brighton, Andrés is expected to compete with Wieffer for the holding midfield role under Hürzeler, whose team build patiently from the back and need a midfielder comfortable taking the ball under pressure. The composure and positional sense that Cave pointed to in his unveiling should suit that system, and given how thin Brighton's options in central areas already look, he could be pushed into the side quickly. Still only 21, he arrives with the kind of profile — proven at a Champions League club, with sell-on value attached — that fits the way Brighton have tended to recruit in recent years.

What it does to the model

Chema Andrés strengthens a Brighton midfield that has been light on senior options during an injury-hit start to the season, so his introduction will feed into how bawler.ai reads Brighton's underlying numbers — chances created and chances conceded — once he starts featuring in Hürzeler's XI. For Stuttgart, losing a first-choice holding midfielder is the kind of squad change that can show up in their own goals-conceded figures until a replacement beds in. Both clubs' profiles will simply update as the season's matches are actually played, not because of the transfer alone.

FPL angle

Andrés · MID · £5.5m0.0 pts/GW projected

Bawler's FPL model projects Andrés at 0.0 points a gameweek at 0% ownership. It does not publish a before-and-after for a transfer, so the figure is his projection at Brighton & Hove Albion, not a delta.

How this is scored100%
  • Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

Sources

Related: Brighton & Hove Albion team page · All transfersBrighton & Hove Albion — every match prediction

Where this move lands

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