Brighton & Hove are on the verge of signing Dutch midfielder Davy Propper from PSV. The Argus reported this afternoon that Brighton are set to smash their transfer record to sign Propper. Within the article, it says that the fee will easily eclipse Brighton’s current transfer record, which is £5.2m that they spent on keeper Matt Ryan from Valencia.
The Daily Mail and the Daily Sun are also reporting that The Seagulls are closing on the Dutch midfielder. The Sun are reporting that Brighton are also believed to be confident of completing the signing of Propper, before their Premier League opener against Manchester City on Saturday.
The 4th Official is also confident that the deal is indeed done and some unsubstantiated rumours place the fee to be at £6.2m.
We can confirm that Brighton & Hove have sealed the transfer of midfielder Davy Propper. Fee is reported to be in region of £6.2m. #bhafc
— The 4th Official (@Official_T4O) August 6, 2017
The 25-year-old Dutch midfielder started his career in Vitesse’s youth academy, before breaking into their senior squad in 2010 where he made his Eredivisie debut against N.E.C, where he came on as a substitute. In his six years for the Vitesse senior squad, he made 134 appearances and scored 15 goals.
He then joined PSV Eindhoven in 2015 and in his time at the club he has made 67 appearances and scored 16 goals. The 67 appearances include 14 appearances in the Champions League and the Europa League in his two seasons so far at Eindhoven.
Propper has also made appearances internationally for Netherlands. He has made four appearances for the Netherlands U17’s where he made four appearances and failed to score. He also made five appearances for The Netherlands U21’s scoring the one goal.
In 2015, he made his international debut for Netherlands on the 15th of June, when he replaced the then Captain Robin Van Persie in the 57th minute, in a 4-3 friendly defeat to the United States. Propper has four appearances since 2015 for Holland but has failed to find the back of the net.
From what I saw of Propper last season, he was one of PSV’s star players scoring six goals in 34 appearances. He seems to be a versatile player who can play in the central midfield role, but also due to him having a good eye for goal, he could well play in an attacking midfield or number ten role. I am surprised that the 25-year-old midfielder is being allowed to leave by PSV especially for the £6.2 million pound fee that is being rumoured.
Propper will be a great signing for a few reasons. The first is the fact that Propper is a goal-scoring midfielder which is exactly what Brighton have been looking for a couple of years. The second is that the Dutch midfielder has European experience under his belt including over 200 appearances under his belt in the Eredivisie and a further 14 appearances in Europe in either the Europa or Champions League.
Another reason he could be a smashing signing is that he seems to be a versatile player who can play centre midfield, attacking midfield or in the number ten role which is what Chris Hughton likes as it means he can use Propper in a number of different roles.
