Yasin Ayari issues blunt six-word response to Brighton contract question after Arsenal win

Yasin Ayari's future at Brighton remains uncertain despite his starring role this season.

The Sweden international has been excellent for Fabain Hurzeler's men and was key in Albion's 3-0 Premier League win against Arsenal last Saturday.

Ayari's current contract runs until the end of the season and so far an agreement has not been reached on a new deal.

Brighton do though have an option for a further year which they can trigger, should they wish to do so.

Ayari swerves contract question

"I don't know, we will see," was Ayari's sharp response as he spoke to journalists in the mixed zone after the win against Arsenal.

Ayari is often a man of few words to the press and the midfielder was clearly in no mood to elaborate on his future at this stage.

Brighton fans will though be keen to see his deal renewed.

The 22-year-old has been Albion's most consistent midfielder for some time now and his role took on greater importance last summer as Carlos Baleba left for Manchester United for £70m last summer.

Ayari joined Brighton for around £6m from AIK in 2023 and has made 82 appearances for Albion with seven goals and four assists. He also had loan spells at Coventry and Blackburn.

Ayari played in a more attacking midfield role against the Gunners with Pascal Gross and new arrival Chema Andres slightly deeper. The Sweden ace stressed the importance of playing with intensity against Arsenal.

Be aggressive against Arsenal

“You have to be intense,” he said. “You have to be aggressive against teams like this if you want to win. If you give them too much time and they feel comfortable playing around, then it’s going to be hard.

“We have to put pressure on them, and we know that we’re a good team when we play with a lot of intensity.”

Gross opened the scoring against Arsenal with further goals fro Charalampos Kostoulas and Andres.

“It’s good to get the opening goal. It gives you confidence and then, obviously, it’s a bit easier to come into the game. So, yeah, it was good.

“The intensity part that we always speak about was there for most of the game.

“I think everyone saw that we wanted to press and wanted to win the ball, and it paid off for us.”

The best team in England

Ayari added: “For me personally and for the team as well, obviously with a result like that, the team was good because we won the game against the best team in England.

“For me, I didn’t have as much of the ball as I wanted. Obviously, I played in a higher role, but sometimes you have to adapt to the game.”