Watch as Georginio Rutter gives shirt to fan after Brighton beat Bournemouth

The Frenchman has scored eight goals and provided five assists since signing for Brighton for a club record £40m in the summer.

His latest goal involvement was a delightful assist for Danny Welbeck’s winner against Bournemouth at the Amex on Tuesday night (February 25) – Brighton’s fourth consecutive win after the forgettable afternoon in Nottingham.

But 22-year-old Rutter is also proving his worth off the pitch, as the man who consistently leads the celebrations after victories and is quickly becoming a fan favourite.

The former Leeds man, with his contagious beaming smile, once again celebrated with the fans after the Bournemouth win and even gave his shirt to one lucky supporter, after Brighton well and truly put themselves back into the race for Europe.

Speaking after the 4-0 win at Southampton – which saw Rutter get on the scoresheet and lead some special post-match scenes – Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler said: “I think what he proved to us is that he can really work hard, and that he's a player who can make the difference.

"I think he needed a little bit of time to adapt to the Premier League, to adapt to the intensity, also his body needed a little bit of time, but now at the moment he's in an impressive form, he understands the game more and more.

"He understands his value, he understands how he can use his body against his opponent, and therefore I'm quite happy that he's in our team, that he builds now the connections and the relationships to his teammates.

"I really try to focus on improving the player, and not only Georgi, in general every individual player, and that's my job.

"He's starting to hit the target, that's a true thing, and we work hard on these things. I think he understands now that it's not only about making assists, it's how I can be more dangerous for the opponent, how can I increase my potential in the opponent's box.”

Albion were dominant against a hapless Southampton side but had to fight harder for their win over high-flying Bournemouth.

Hurzeler said: “I think we started quite good in the game. We created some chances, we were very aggressive, we played very intense.

"We were also good in the personal duels. We deserved to lead and then in the second half we suffered. I think the goal came a little bit out of nowhere, it was an amazing goal and afterwards we had to suffer, we had to stick together.

"And we weren't that aggressive anymore, we didn't win the second ball. I think then Bournemouth controlled the game more and in the end we were the lucky winner.”

On the race for Europe – with Brighton one point below fifth placed Manchester City – Hurzeler said: “Let's wait for the next game and then we can talk about this.

"I'm not a big fan to emphasise one victory too much and to emphasise one loss too much. So I think four or five weeks ago when we had this big loss against Nottingham [Forest], I also didn't emphasise it too much because in the end it was more about the reaction.

"In the end we know that we are still in a process and that we have to work hard and go really game by game and then we see what happens.”