Brighton break transfer record to sign ‘The Computer’ Enock Mwepu
Brighton & Hove Albion have broken their transfer record to sign Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Enock Mwepu for a fee in excess of £20 million.
The 23-year-old Zambian has signed a four year contract with the Seagulls. Speaking upon completion of the deal, Deputy Chairman Paul Barber said he was delighted that it gives the Albion a whole new African country to market shirts at.
Mwepu is known as ‘The Computer’ which instantly makes the team here at WAB Towers like him. According to Left Back Football, the moniker was given to him back home in Zambia for his intelligence in tight spaces and his passing range.
He first burst onto the scene at the FIFA Under 20 World Cup in 2017 held in South Korea. Zambia surprised everyone by advancing to the quarter finals, eliminating Germany along the way with Mwepu scoring twice and claiming two assists.
Within two weeks, Mwepu left his boyhood club NAPSA Stars bound for Europe. He joined Red Bull Salzburg’s feeder team FC Liefering in the Austrian second tier, scoring six goals and registering four assists from 23 appearances to earn a call up to the senior Salzburg squad before the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
Over the next three seasons, Mwepu played 199 times for Red Bull. He scored 18 times and claimed 20 assists, helping Salzburg to win Austrian League and Cup doubles in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He scored one of the goals in their 3-0 OFB-Cup win over Lask.
A look through his career reveals a player who can play anywhere across the midfield, making it easy to understand why Graham Potter wanted the Albion to pay a record fee for him.
Mwepu has been used as a central midfielder, a holding midfielder, an attacking midfielder, a left winger, a right winger, a right back and a centre back. Are you even a Brighton fan if you are not expecting Potter to stick him at left back next season?
His statistics point to a man who can thrive in any of these roles. Mwepu has registered an impressive 14 goals and nine assists from 37 matches out on the right. When used in the middle of the park, he has six goals and 10 assists.
Whisper it quietly, but Mwepu looks like a more versatile version of Yves Bissouma. And we all know what a good player Bissouma has turned out to be.
Speaking of Bissouma, it seems likely that Mwepu’s arrival will pave the way for the Malian to depart. Bissouma has no shortage of suitors with Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain all linked.
If Brighton sell Bissouma for £50 million and have signed his replacement for £25 million, you do not need to be the lovely Rachel Riley to deduce that the Albion still have £25 million in the bank to reinvest in a striker.
On paper at least, Enock Mwepu it looks like a fantastic bit of business from Brighton. Now to find that clinical centre forward who is the missing piece of the puzzle…
