The Brighton striker who scored 25 goals and got 10 assists last season.

Deniz Undav Signed for Brighton Hove Albion from newly promoted Belgium top flight side Union Saint-Gilloise for £7.2m in the summer of 2021. His transfer included a loan back agreement which explains why you have probably never heard of him before. Well now his back at Brighton and could be the goal scoring striker they have desperately needed since their rise to the Premier League. The question now is can he make the transition many have failed to before.

21/22 was not a season to remember in the goals scoring department for Brighton. Only Wolves and Leeds scored less than their 42 goals of all the teams above the relegation zone. A three month Goalless barren spell running from 18th January until 24th April also highlighted the lack of attacking prowess upfront at the American Express Community Stadium. Over the season Brighton had an xG of 49.5 ranking them tenth in the league however they fell short by -7.5 only Leeds and Norwich performances' in front of goal rank bellow them. Could Undaz be the Goal scorer Brighton Fans have been dreaming off?

To date the 25 year old has 97 goals and 48 assists to his name in 198 senior appearances. He started at TSV Havelse in the German 4th tier where he spent 3 seasons making 64 appearances and scoring 32 goals and managed14 assists. He was then sold to Eintracht Braunschweig where he failed to make a single senior appearance. Undav left the following season to SV Meppen where he played 2 seasons in the 3rd tier of German football making 69 appearances and in process scoring 23 goals and got 15 assists.

Union Saint-Gilloise then brought him in the summer of 2021. He made 24 appearances scoring 17 goals and assisting 5 others helping the club win the Belgian 2nd tier. That summer Brighton swopped him up before loaning him straight back to USG. Undav thrived in the Jupiler Pro League scoring 25 goals and managed 10 assists helping USG finish top of the table for the regular season (teams play 34 matches each in the regular season in the Jupiler Pro League, and then entering Play off I or Play off II according to their position in the regular season) USG finished 2nd in the Play off losing the title to Club Brugge.

His impressive return rate is certainly something that should catch the eye of FPL managers. Having worked his way up the leagues of main land Europe proving his goal scoring and creative ability along the way it remains to be seen if he can transition to the demands of the Premier League. His role within the Brighton squad is also somewhat of an unknown. Danny Welbeck managed to avoid injury long enough to put an impressive run of form together at the end of last season scoring 3 goals and creating 4 others in the final 5 games. Brighton's other Forward Maupay last scored in in the middle of February and by the middle of March he had fallen out of favour with Graham Potter so there is certainly room for Deniz to come in and claim a starting place particularly if Welbeck is side lined with an injury.

At the time of writing FPL Towers are yet to release the prices. Given his lack of Premier league experience and the price of the other Brighton forwards we can probably expect him to come in at the 5m - 5.5m bracket. Certainly not one to bring in for GW1 but defiantly one to keep an eye on in pre-season and if he looks to be getting game time once the season kicks off and the prices is right he could be a solid FPL enabler that others may well overlook.