'Not good' - Brighton's £6m new man gives brutal assessment after his debut display

Deniz Undav described his first game in a Brighton shirt as ‘not good’ after the Seagulls drew their pre-season opener 0-0 against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Striker Deniz Undav featured for Brighton in a preaseason friendly against his old Union SGStriker Deniz Undav featured for Brighton in a preaseason friendly against his old Union SG
Striker Deniz Undav featured for Brighton in a preaseason friendly against his old Union SG

Coming up against teammates of the last two seasons on the Belgian side, Undav was frustrated in the second 45 minutes at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

“It was the first friendly game so we don’t know each other so well yet,” Undav said of his fellow Albion players.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We are trying to figure each other out. Now it’s about trying to adapt to my teammates, how they play, to the intensity and that’s the goal for me.

“In Belgium it’s a different level to the Premier League, so it’s all about adapting. It’s way more intense and the game is way faster and it’s more physical.”

The German striker’s appearance in the friendly came almost six months after the Seagulls signed him from USG, where he went on to score a further eight goals in 14 goals after being loaned back.

Having gone on to win the Belgian First Division A player of the year award, as well as the golden boot with 26 goals, Undav now carries some expectation with him of solving Brighton’s striker conundrum.

He sets himself high standards, too.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On his debut performance, Undav said: “Not good, to be honest. I didn’t get enough balls and sometimes I lost the ball easily.

“But in my head the first thing was to see how my teammates are, so it wasn’t so important to play now the best game of my life, but to figure out where I can fit and to see if I have the ball, when I have to keep it, play it fast or get in the box when I have the chance to score.”

Crucially, some of those creating the chances are familiar to Undav.

With Kaoru Mitoma and Kacper Kozłowski also part of the USG team last season and holding similar hopes of nailing down spots in Graham Potter’s side, linking up with them helps ease the transition.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Mitoma is a fast guy on the side who can dribble against one or two guys and win duels so we can expect a lot from him,” Undav said.

“Kacper, like me, has to adapt to the team and hopefully we will see the best Kacper he can be.

“Me? I did my best and tried to give my old team everything I had got and I will try to give the same qualities I had to Brighton and my teammates here. A lot of goals, fun and good moments!”

As Albion now head out to Portugal for some hot weather training, Undav will be able to gel with his teammates on and off the pitch before his next match.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is two weeks until the Seagulls face Reading at the Madejski Stadium, where for many of the squad it will be their first time coming up against English opposition.

The physicality of such teams is often cited as a barrier to European players adapting, but Albion are determined to mitigate that – starting on the training ground.

“The training sessions we have are really intense, really hard, really physical,” Undav said.

“It’s all about understanding on the pitch and it will come over the weeks.”

Related topics: