Despite a slightly under-par performance in front of the Sky cameras on Monday night, there is no reason to doubt the quality that pint-sized Brighton midfielder Liam Bridcutt possesses. At just 22 years of age, it’s amazing that he can already bring such assurance and quality to the heart of our midfield, but he still has years of learning ahead of him.
Roll back the years to 2004, a 15-year old boy signed up to the Chelsea youth system. His name was Liam Bridcutt, he wasn’t the tallest, the strongest or the quickest, but a dab hand at tackling and passing meant defensive midfield was his element. Multi-talented with both feet meant he was capable of spraying the ball all over the field with ease.
His impressive performances in both the youth team and training led him to be named Chelsea Scholar of the Year for the 2006-07 season, this led on to his first professional contract, and a bright future ahead. It is also worth mentioning here, that the year before in the 2005-06 FA Youth Cup, Bridcutt and the Albion met for the first time, a January evening at the Withdean Stadium saw Brighton & Hove Albion Youth faced off against Chelsea’s Youth, littered with now successful stars, notably Jack Cork (Southampton) and Scott Sinclair (Swansea)Liam was at the heart of the Chelsea midfield, in his favoured defensive holding position, however he and his Chelsea side were powerless to resist as the Brighton youth ran out 2-1 winners.
Every year went by as he progressed through the Chelsea ranks into their reserve squad, a flurry of loans to fellow Football League clubs put him in the shop window, showing everyone that he was definitely a class apart from the rest. Yeovil, Watford and Stockport all took him on, and probably wished they had offered him a full time deal judging by where he is now.
The summer of 2010 saw the end of Liam’s career at Chelsea, they thought they could do no more, so released him on a free transfer. However in August of that year, Gus Poyet, who was also a former Chelsea midfielder, offered Bridcutt a life-line and a 5-month contract with his progressing Brighton & Hove Albion. Fortunately for us, Gus saw what Chelsea didn’t, and that was a player with the potential to build on what he already had and play at the top level.
His performances at the start of his stint were somewhat average, however any player walking through the door at the Albion last season had a tough job adapting to the ‘tippy-tappy’ way of football we are now accustomed to. However as his confidence grew, so did his performances on the pitch, and suddenly we saw an exceptional talent develop right in front of our eyes.
We now approach November 2011 and with 50 league appearances to his name, it’s obvious that Bridcutt has been somewhat of a revelation since his arrival last summer. As before mentioned, for a 22-year old talent, he already shows such a level-headed approach to the game, handing the Brighton defence an extra body in times of trouble.
However, he can also surprise the spectators with a couple of moments of magic when they are most necessary. He only netted twice in the 2010-11 season, and weren’t they just the most pivotal moments in our season? A smash and grab volley in the 96th minute against Carlisle United sealing a 4-3 victory to keep our promotion dreams alive, and the same score-line when it mattered most, a 20-yard pile-driver against Dagenham & Redbridge all but secured our promotion to the Championship, and we will never be able to forget the moments that Liam has given to us.
With a heap of Premier League clubs now interested such as Fulham, West Brom and Wigan, his truly exceptional ability is finally being recognised and appreciated by the big boys in the big league, however the big question is, how long can we hold onto him for? We as Brighton fans would like to think forever, but I think I’m not the only one that knows he has a massive career ahead of him, we’ve just got to hope he enjoys it with us and not elsewhere.
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