Brighton And Hove Albion are faced with a dilemma over letting Richie Towell leave for Rotherham United permanently or to make him stay for the length of his contract. The player himself has expressed his intentions on playing for the newly promoted Championship outfit for another season at least.
Towell has found a warm environment at the New York Stadium to grow and make an impact for a winning side. He took to the pitch for the entirety of the 120 minutes in the League One play-off final and helped his side to notch up a 2-1 win against Shrewsbury Town to help the Millers earn promotion to the English second division.
He is fully appreciated by the fans after his incredibly successful season-long loan spell in South Yorkshire. The 26-year-old found the back of the net 6 times and furthered 2 assists in his 46 appearances last term.
He is due to arrive at the AMEX Stadium on 28th June and report to training with the first team squad. In relation to his immediate future, Towell said, “I will just go back there, do pre-season and literally just wait to see what they say to me.
“I am still contracted to Brighton, so my future lies in their hands. I have another year with an option of another year, so I will just wait to see what they want me to do and whatever they say, I am contracted to them.”
“I would love to come back here. I have really enjoyed my time here, I have loved every minute of it. To come back here would be nice, but it’s all down to Brighton.”
Towell spent a miserable 18 months in East Sussex since his switch from Irish outfit, Dundalk in January 2016. The former Republic Of Ireland international was only allowed to feature in 5 senior team games and was well outside of Chris Hughton’s Premier League plans.
This was obviously a shocking change of pace for the attacking midfielder who with his previous side had won every major honour in the previous season and was also awarded the PFAI 2015 Player Of The Year award.
Between the likes of Davy Propper, Pascal Gross, Dale Stephens and Biram Kayal it is unlikely that Towell will find an important role under Hughton. Steve Sidwell’s departure could potentially open up a spot in the team but even the veteran did not manage any minutes last season.
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It would not be a huge loss for Brighton to offload Towell to the former League One outfit and clear the wage books for more of a prime replacement, if necessary.
