Brighton sign Anderlecht goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen for £16m
Brighton have completed the signing of one of the best young goalkeepers in Europe with Bart Verbruggen joining for £16 million from Anderlecht.
The Dutch international has signed a five-year contract through to the summer of 2028. He will compete with Jason Steele for the number jersey in 2023-24 with Robert Sanchez likely to be sold having thrown his toys out the pram towards the end of last season.
Manchester United and Liverpool have both been linked with Verbruggen before his arrival at Brighton. Burnley meanwhile showed concrete interest last summer, in January and this summer, only to not want to meet Anderlecht’s asking price.
The appeal of Bart Verbruggen to Roberto De Zerbi and Brighton is obvious. In less than six months as Anderlecht number one, he has earned a reputation for his ability as a sweeper keeper.
Anderlecht goalkeeping coach Frank Boeckx told Sporza of his young protegee: “The way he sees and executes passes, both short and long. His athleticism is also very good. He has all the qualities of a modern goalkeeper.”
Opposition players in the Jupiler League have been keen to sing his praises too. KV Westerlo striker Tuur Dierckx said after playing in a goalless draw against Anderlecht and Verbruggen: “There was one player on the field who was two or three classes better than the rest. Verbruggen is not normal.”
“He will be among the top five in the world. And I mean that seriously. He has everything to become that. He plays as a number 10 from the back, his passing, that is also not normal. I was really impressed by Verbruggen.”
Verbruggen’s talents are not just restricted to what he does with the ball at his feet. He kept six successive clean sheets in the 2022-23 season, saved three penalties in a Europa Conference League shootout and is yet to concede a shot from outside his area in his senior career.
His save percentage last season of 76.6 percent was bettered by just two Premier League goalkeepers – Bernd Leno and David Raya. Only Emiliano Martinez successfully claimed a higher percentage of crosses into the box than Verbruggen for Anderlecht, whose 6’4 height allows him to dominate his area.
On the face of it, Verbruggen would appear to combine the shot stopping of Sanchez with the distribution of Steele. He looks to be the perfect fit for the unique way De Zerbi plays football.
At 20-years-old, Verbruggen is still someway from his peak. If he keeps developing and improving at the rate he has over the past year, then those predictions from Dierckx about Verbruggen becoming one of the top five goalkeepers in the world could easily come true.
This time last year, Verbruggen was backup goalkeeper at Anderlecht to club captain and undisputed number one Hendrik Van Crombrugge.
Verbruggen had made seven appearances for Anderlecht when Vincent Kompany was in charge of the Belgian giants. In that time, Verburggen impressed Kompany enough for the former Manchester City captain to bid £5 million for his services shortly after taking over at Burnley.
Anderlecht said no, even with Verbruggen starting the campaign on the bench. It was immediately after the World Cup winter break that he usurped Van Crombrugge, since when there has been no looking back.
Verbruggen played every game from that point on, ending the season voted Anderlecht’s 2022-23 Player of the Season.
He was number one for the Netherlands Under 21s at this summer’s European Championship having received his first senior call up in March.
Unfortunately, Vebruggen was one of five players forced to withdraw when an illness went through the camp. Ironically, he was replaced in the squad by Brighton’s Kjell Scherpen.
