Ezequiel Schelotto is quickly becoming a hit with Brighton fans after only being at the club for not even half a year. The Italian full-back joined The Seagulls in the summer from Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon.
Schelotto has only made nine appearances for Albion but has certainly made his mark in those games. His most recent appearance was against Premier League Champions Chelsea last weekend in a 4-0 defeat. Schelotto played right wing-back and put in a brilliant performance. His pace was incredible to witness with him plying up and down the right wing and using his pace and intelligence to nip in and cut out passes. He was also involved in a couple of penalty shouts, which were not given.
The player, who is nicknamed El Galgo(The Greyhound in Spanish), already has one assist to his name when he set up Dale Stephens to open the scoring in Brighton’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in The FA Cup at the start of the month.
The Italian right-back is also slowly making the aforementioned position his own as after his performance against Chelsea and it would be difficult not to pick him in the FA Cup tie away to Middlesbrough on Saturday. What is even more encouraging for Schelotto is he getting the nod ahead of captain Bruno.
However, this is not surprising as The 37-year-old Spaniard has looked a bit fragile so far this season, especially aerially. To be fair to him, Bruno is doing an impeccable job to still be able to play 90 minutes every week if needed at the age of 37. The only problem is the Spanish full-back does not possess is the pace that Schelotto has and also is nowhere near as good in the air as Schelotto.
With Bruno being left out the squad in the squad in the Chelsea and Schelotto’s man of the match performance it does make you wonder if Schelotto will become the first choice right-back and Bruno will be rotating in for him when he’s injured or for cup competitions.
It will certainly be interesting to see who Hughton decides to pick in Saturday’s FA Cup tie as that could determine who he prefers more. If Hughton continues with Schelotto it may well signal that despite it be a cup game the Brighton manager does not feel Bruno is up to playing the full-back role as Schelotto. However, if Bruno starts it would show that Hughton still trusts Bruno to come in and do a job when he wants to rest Schelotto for important Premier League games like the one next Wednesday away to Southampton.
Despite maybe now not being head of the cue at right-back, it could well be worth playing Bruno in a central midfielder role on Saturday and in Premier League games. The Spaniard has played there on a few occasions for the Seagulls and played well as with his experience and defensive skills, he could sit in front of the defence and play an anchorman role and allow the midfielders to be more attacking.
