One to watch for Brighton & Hove Albion: Anthony Knockaert
Anthony Knockaert’s story is one of redemption and the French flyer looks set to finally have a proper crack at the Premier League with Brighton & Hove Albion next term.
The 26-year-old arrives back in the top flight with the Championship player of the year award in tow, having scored 15 goals in 45 appearances for Chris Hughton’s Seagulls, but the road up until this point has required plenty of stiff upper lip from the former France U21 international.
Knockaert first arrived in English football from Guingamp in August 2012, Leicester City paying a reported £2.5 million for his services – he was named the Foxes’ young player of the season but suffered a moment that will likely hound him for the rest of his career.
After stepping up to take a penalty he had controversially won in the latter stages of Leicester’s play-off semi-final second leg at Watford at the end of that season, the winger saw his penalty, which would have sent the Foxes to Wembley, saved by Manuel Almunia.
(Matthew Ashton / Contributor)
He could then only watch on in horror as Watford stormed down the other end of the pitch and Troy Deeney scored to hand the Hornets a 3-2 aggregate victory.
However, Knockaert recovered to play his part in Leicester’s successful Championship-winning campaign the following year but his time during the Foxes’ return to the Premier League in the 2014-15 proved frustrating as he as handed just 11 appearances by then-manager Nigel Pearson, none of which came after mid-January.
Pastures new came calling and although a spell with Belgian giants Standard Liege lasted just six months, he moved back to England in January 2016 and found a new home on the south coast.
Of course, who knows how prominent a role he would have played, but Knockaert departed Leicester the season they shocked the world by winning the Premier League title – the Frenchman insists he doesn’t regret moving on in search of regular first-team football.
The Brighton man hasn’t wasted time crying over spilt milk and although more play-off heartbreak proved in store at the end of the 2015-16 season, he has now successfully helped the Seagulls chart a path to the country’s top table.
(Photo by James Baylis – AMA/Getty Images)
He also had to overcome personal tragedy last term when his father Patrick died at the age of 63 but both the man himself and his team-mates produced a string of emotional tributes to the late Knockaert Sr last term.
The Brighton winger’s journey has been filled with trials and tribulations but, as the poster boy for a side ready to play their first top-flight football for 34 years, Knockaert looks primed to finally make his mark among the big boys.
