While Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March take centre stage for Brighton & Hove Albion, Simon Adingra is waiting in the wings to become another headline act for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Adingra has taken the same path into the first-team squad as left-wing sensation Mitoma, via a profitable season on loan to Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium’s top flight.
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“I watched him a lot, almost every game that he played,” Adingra says of the Japan international. “I’m new in the team, I’m a challenger, so I have to be ready to play any time, on the bench and starting.
“I like playing on the left side, but I’ve also played on the right.”
Right-winger March has started the season with three goals in consecutive 4-1 wins against Luton Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Mitoma has provided a goal (and a stunning one at that) against Wolves and two assists.
Adingra had only been on the pitch for 11 minutes, in place of March, when he capitalised on a mistake by Luton’s Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu inside his own penalty area to put De Zerbi’s team 3-1 ahead in the closing stages in the opening game.
First #PL appearance, first #PL goal for Simon Adingra! 🇨🇮✨ pic.twitter.com/FCdt9IJVBc
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) August 12, 2023
Debut impacts are commonplace for Adingra. The 21-year-old Ivory Coast international scored on his first appearance from the bench for former club Nordsjaelland in a 2-2 Danish Superliga draw against Copenhagen in April 2021.
Brighton bought him last summer for £6million ($7.6m) before loaning him straight to Union. He promptly scored on his debut in the Belgian top-flight for the club part-owned by Brighton chairman Tony Bloom, the equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to St Truiden.
Mitoma’s figures for Union in the 2021-22 campaign were impressive — eight goals and four assists in 29 appearances. But Adingra did even better last season, contributing 15 goals and 15 assists across 51 outings.
The Europa League experience he gained in Belgium will also be useful to Brighton. He provided three assists in nine matches in the competition, with Union reaching the quarter-finals before losing 5-2 on aggregate to Bayer Leverkusen.
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Adingra says: “It was good because I played in many games, including the Europa League. I got a chance to express myself and show the Brighton staff that I could come here and play.
“I’ve come into a very good team. They’ve helped me. It’s easier to come into a team when you have good people around you.
“It’s going to be good (in the Europa League). We have good players and some experienced players in the team. That will make it easier, some players that have played at a higher level before.”
Brighton fans celebrate Adingra’s first Seagulls goal with the man himself (Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)Adingra’s journey to the Premier League began at the Right To Dream Academy in Ghana.
The academy has been a breeding ground for developing the aspirations of African boys since it was founded 24 years ago by former Manchester United scout Tom Vernon, the chairman of Nordsjaelland and co-owner of a new MLS franchise in San Diego.
Adingra joined the boarding academy’s under-18s in 2017 after he was spotted by scouts playing in Accra, the capital city 60 miles further south and a near-three-hour journey by road from the Right To Dream facilities.
“It was an important time there,” says Adingra, a fluent French speaker. “That’s where I learnt English and everything about European football. It was very important for me.
“You’d stay there for three months, go home for one month, then come back for two months and home again. Of course, that was difficult, but football is what I love to do, so I was happy.”
Adingra’s scoring debut against Luton was a source of pride for Didi Dramani, Right To Dream’s head of football at the Ghana academy. Dramani was also by Adingra’s side when he moved to Europe in a former role as a transitional coach for Nordsjaelland.
Dramani says: “He broke his hand when he was promoted to the first team. He was killing it in the under-19s, came into the first team, was doing so well and then we were working on some one-v-ones, offensively and defensively.
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“I was taking care of the offensive part and he went past a guy, fell and his hand entangled with the other guy’s hand.
“I had to be with him in his room, get his food for him, but I told him, ‘Look, I’m very positive you will make it’. He got his debut against FC Copenhagen, came on and scored an equaliser, a fantastic goal.
“Sometimes, if you do well, you still have to wait. I follow the Brighton model a lot.”
Brighton’s intention to add another winger to the squad has gradually become less of a priority during the summer transfer window, due to the impression Adingra has made on head coach De Zerbi.
He scored both goals in the 2-0 victory over Brentford during the pre-season tour of the U.S. in July.
A sign of big things to come from Simon Adingra 🤩#PLSummerSeries | @OfficialBHAFC pic.twitter.com/MQ7k2BbOpQ
— Premier League (@premierleague) July 27, 2023
Adingra played a total of 172 minutes across the three matches in the Premier League’s Summer Series against Chelsea, Brentford and Newcastle United. Only Joel Veltman and Pascal Gross were used more on the trip by De Zerbi.
Adingra ended up as a right-back in the opening 4-3 defeat by Chelsea. Had he played there before? “No, no, no, but it was for the team,” he says. “As a player, you have to be ready any time the coach gives you a chance to play.”
More chances will come for Adingra under De Zerbi. “He’s another big talent,” says the Italian. “Mitoma is Mitoma, but Adingra will be very important, because we play around 60 games this season. It will be very difficult to fix a clear first XI.
“They can’t play three games in a week for a long time.
“He prefers to play on the left side, but sometimes we need him to play on the other side of the pitch. He can play with the same quality in both.”
De Zerbi and his players targeted Champions League qualification last season from February onwards. Injuries and fatigue played a part in missing out on that goal in a hectic run-in.
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De Zerbi is reluctant to talk about targets this season until the transfer window has shut and his squad is finalised, but Adingra is bullish about the prospects.
He says of the aims, individually and collectively: “To be in the top four of the Premier League and score as many goals as I can, assists too.
“I think we have the quality, the players to make it, so we just have to believe in ourselves.”
(Top photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
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