Why Pascal Gross is top of my worry list this summer as Graham Potter and Brighton plan ahead

Is it acceptable to serve salmon from the BBQ when hosting an outdoor soiree? Will it be safe to go into the sea after a winter in which water companies released untreated sewage?

The biggest worry of the lot – even bigger than the possibility of swimming through actual human waste – is the future of Pascal Gross.

On June 30th, the Brighton contract of the German playmaker expires. Unless he pens a new deal at some point in the next 10 weeks, it will be the end of an era at the Albion.

Some Brighton fans might shrug their shoulders at the prospect of Gross leaving. Despite consistently delivering on the pitch over the past five seasons, a section of the Amex crowd has never truly rated Gross.

They point to his lack of speed, completely ignoring the fact that Gross would never in a million years be playing for Brighton if he possessed pace to go with his sublime footballing ability.

The fact he makes a tortoise wading through treacle look like Usain Bolt is precisely why he is at the Albion and not Manchester City or Liverpool.

He is not the most accessible of footballers either, which does not help with the Instagram generation. Gross has no social media presence, so you will not see him liking, following or interacting with fans. He simply turns up, bamboozles defenders, creates chances and then goes home.

His importance to Brighton cannot be doubted though. It is best shown by results when Graham Potter has tried to phase him out in the past.

Gross struggled to get into the starting XI during the first half of the 2020-21 season, when the Albion won just one of their opening 18 matches to record their worst ever start to a top flight campaign.

Replacing Maty Ryan with Robert Sanchez is often hailed as the catalyst for the turnaround in the second half of the season. Yet Gross came back into the team at the same time as Sanchez debuted and made as much of a difference as the Spanish goalkeeper.

The past two months have given a further example of what can happen when Gross is dropped. He was hauled after 60 minutes at Old Trafford back in February with the score Manchester United 1-0 Brighton. The Albion had enjoyed a decent first half at the Theatre of Dreams before things fell alarmingly apart, coincidentally around the time that Potter withdrew Gross.

Gross did then not feature in either the 3-0 home defeat to Burnley nor the 2-0 reversal against Aston Villa. Brighton managed two shots on target across 180 minutes against two opponents they should have been targeting serious points from.

Potter recalled Gross for the trip to Newcastle, where he predictably assisted Lewis Dunk for the Albion goal. It was then back to the bench against Liverpool, another home game with one shot on target.

Gross started against Spurs and admittedly struggled to make much impact. Against Norwich however, he was central to the 31 chances Brighton created.

In the weekend win at Arsenal, his tactical awareness, discipline and use of the ball in a sort-of right wing back role played a crucial role in Potter’s weird and wonderful 3-3-3-1 formation working.

Outside of players at the European Super League Elite Six clubs, nobody in the Premier League has a better chance creation rate this season than Gross’ 2.59 per 90 minutes. The numbers and the evidence of what happens when Gross is dropped to the bench prove that he remains a very important player for the Albion.

Some might point to his age and say that his best days are behind him as a reason not to offer him a new deal. Gross will turn 31 15 days before his Brighton contract expires and although that is hardly old, Potter’s reign has been characterised by a change in squad profile from experienced campaigners to young and talented prospects.

The main factor for jettisoning players based on age however is normally diminishing pace. Not exactly something Gross has to worry about, is it? And all the time he can keep the ball, make fools of opponents with his beautiful Cruyff Turn and deliver a pinpoint cross, he is surely worth keeping. Brighton would be foolish not to offer him a new deal.

There remains the prospect of course that Gross may not want to stay. He may want to play out the final years of his career in his native Germany, where the pace of football is less frenetic than the Premier League. A Bundesliga outfit might be able to guarantee him first team football in a way that Potter and the Albion cannot.

If Gross is to leave this summer, then he will do so having written himself into the Albion history books as arguably the most important player in terms of Brighton establishing themselves as a Premier League club – sorry Glenn Murray and Lewis Dunk.

Take away Gross’ 28 assists and 15 goals from 163 appearances and the Albion would have been relegated long ago in any of the previous four campaigns. His contribution in that first top flight season was particularly important, scoring seven and setting up another eight. Brighton netted only 34 times in 2017-18, so Gross was involved in nearly half of their goals.

Let us hope that we are not witnessing Gross’ farewell tour and that these final seven games are not the last opportunities we have to see him in blue and white. But if Kaiser Gross is to depart, then the Albion should give him the send off he deserves – as a true Brighton great.