Remember me
Brighton & Hove Albion’s data-driven recruitment model is renowned as a conveyor belt for young talent — but it did not carry as much weight as normal in developing Bart Verbruggen into one of the best young goalkeepers in the world.
Painstaking analysis of Verbruggen’s performances as an unproven 20-year-old with Anderlecht and a decision made by former head coach Roberto De Zerbi launched the process that has led to Verbruggen establishing himself at the age of 23 as Brighton and the Netherlands’ No 1, with a soaring transfer value.
Brighton’s recruitment method for goalkeepers kicked into gear in the summer of 2023 to fill a vacancy after reaching Europe for the first time with a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League under De Zerbi in 2022-23. They scoured Europe for a replacement for Robert Sanchez after the Spaniard fell out with De Zerbi over losing his place to Jason Steele.
Verbruggen, a product of the youth system at NAC Breda in his Dutch homeland, had made just 17 starts for Anderlecht at that stage in Belgium’s top-flight Pro League.
“The one area where we and the club didn’t have the same confidence in the data was goalkeeping, which meant a bit more responsibility fell on us in terms of subjective opinions and watching goalkeepers, because we didn’t have as much data to fall back on,” Brighton’s former goalkeeper coach Jack Stern tells The Athletic.
“Of course, we used data. We had our own data model for goalkeepers through working together with the analysts, but it wasn’t data-led like other areas of recruitment at the club.
“That meant there was a bit more responsibility on me, the other goalkeeping coaches, the goalkeeping scout we hired and the analysts to make sure we knew every young goalkeeper in Europe.
Bart Verbruggen saves from Dan Burn of Newcastle United in October 2025 (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
“We had three areas: a starting goalkeeper, one that would fill a spot (number) two to three and then prospects out of the academy or maybe a young number three that could progress. In terms of man hours and watching, that was a huge part of the job, because we had to make sure ‘You are the best goalkeepers in Europe for us’, doing reports on them, reports of lots of games.
“Some goalkeepers we really honed in and looked at — you were watching every game, doing reports, sometimes me and two others. The best example of that over my time there was Bart Verbruggen. When we signed Bart he had only played 20-odd games for Anderlecht. He was kind of under the radar, but was just coming on to the radar. We identified Bart quite early. He was still playing in the reserves for Anderlecht or the youth team when we first started watching him. Then we were watching every game by the time he had come into the first team.”
Confident that Verbruggen was a good fit for De Zerbi’s style of playing out from the back in and out of possession, Stern then faced the task of convincing now-Tottenham head coach De Zerbi.
“I remember putting together a presentation to show Roberto,” Stern said. “He was always really busy. I told him I had found this young goalkeeper who I really wanted him to look at. I remember grabbing him at the hotel, actually before we played Tottenham on the road. He brought all of his staff in and we sat and watched this video I had done with the analysts. We looked at Bart in possession, out of possession. I remember Roberto saying at the end of that meeting: ‘Get it done, speak to Sam Jewell (then head of recruitment), I want this goalkeeper’.”
With De Zerbi’s backing secured, there was still work to be done to land Verbruggen. Brighton pay a lot of attention to character as well as ability and whether a potential signing is a good fit for the club.
“It is one thing identifying them, thinking they are right for us as a goalkeeping department, but then it’s also going beyond what they are like as a player to what they are like as a person,” Stern said.
“So, quite early on, Sam flew out to meet Bart with his agents. Those early meetings went really well and I had a really good feeling about Bart. He was so mature, his support work around him, agent, family, ticked all the boxes. He was engaging, he wanted to be challenged — he was totally sold on our ideas for him.”
A £16.3million deal to buy Verbruggen from Anderlecht was completed in August 2023 after selling Sanchez to Chelsea for £25m earlier in the month. Verbruggen’s market value has more than doubled since then to about £34m according to Transfermarkt. His reputation was enhanced at the World Cup, which finished on Sunday, by an outstanding performance in the Netherlands’ last 32 exit on penalties against Morocco.
Verbruggen celebrate’s during Brighton’s win over Manchester City last August (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
That was off the back of Brighton having the third-best defensive record in the Premier League last season behind champions Arsenal and runners-up Manchester City — Verbruggen’s first campaign working with Stern’s successor, Jelle ten Rouwelaar. The compatriots know each other well, as they were also together at NAC Breda and Anderlecht.
The goalkeeper situation at Brighton will potentially still be in a state of flux when Verbruggen and Steele — England’s training goalkeeper at the tournament — report back after World Cup duty.
Verbruggen has made 74 Premier League appearances in succession since Fabian Hurzeler made him first choice from the start of the German’s reign in 2024. Hurzeler, however, is likely to repeat De Zerbi’s policy of rotating the goalkeepers in the Europa League campaign in 2023-24 to take account of competing in the Europa Conference League in the new season.
The question will be whether the Dutchman becomes just the latest Brighton player to make a big-money move to an elite club. The Athletic reported in March that leading European clubs, including Bayern Munich, had been linked with Verbruggen. Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer has since signed a new contract at the Allianz Arena, but that does not entirely shut down the possibility of a move for Brighton’s No 1.
The future of Carl Rushworth, meanwhile, is also still unclear. The 25-year-old remains keen on a permanent move to Coventry City after helping them to promotion to the Premier League on loan last season, but no agreement has been reached between the clubs as things stand. Further down the pecking order, England under-21 James Beadle has rejoined Birmingham in the Championship for a second successive season on loan after signing a new four-year contract.
As things stand, there has been no major bid for Verbruggen during the summer transfer window but, whatever happens from here, Brighton’s reduced dependence three years ago on data-driven recruitment for goalkeepers has paid off.