After limited playing time at Brighton since his £14 million move from PSV Eindhoven last year, reports from The Argus and Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf claim Jürgen Locadia is unhappy and wants to leave the club as the January transfer window looms on the horizon.
The striker has made it clear to Dutch media that he needs to play regularly, which is something that has not happened at Brighton so far mainly due to the modern day cult hero Glenn Murray’s unexpected fine Premier League form. Locadia, 26, claims that age is a factor in his reasoning to leave, he said: “I’m now at an age that I have to play weekly. At Brighton, I do not feel that my situation will change quickly. In my opinion, I never had the chance to show what I am worth. I think winter is a good time to think if this is still good for me.”
Locadia had a bright start to life in England after scoring on both his debut appearances in the FA Cup against Coventry City and the Premier League against Swansea City. However, since then he has played only 10 times with many of them being substitute appearances. Although his lack of minutes has been down to Glenn Murray’s fine goalscoring form, it is also down to Chris Hughton’s tactics and competition in the squad.
Chris Hughton’s conservative tactics have seen the Seagulls remain in the Premier League for a second season and has resulted in usually only playing with one striker and packing out the midfield with five players. Locadia has therefore relied on substitute appearances to get into the team but more recently there has been further additions to the squad in attacking positions. Romanian striker Florin Andone has recently come back from injury and has taken further potential minutes from Locadia. In fact, there is even competition from the youth team with both Aaron Conolly and Viktor Gyökeres performing excellently in the U23s.
The lack of minutes has made Locadia state that he would love to move to a German or Spanish club, with The Argus reporting potential interest from Valencia, however it was Wolverhampton Wanderers who battled with Brighton for his signature last season and perhaps may reignite their interest. If Locadia can emulate his goalscoring form from his days in the Eredivisie, then it may be a shrewd bit of business for Wolves who would surely be able to obtain Locadia for a fee of far less than the original £14million paid to PSV.
