Pascal Gross is the unheralded secret to Brighton’s success

If you had to hazard a guess at the Brighton player Roberto De Zerbi has hailed as one of the best he has ever worked with, who would you pick?

Alexis Mac Allister, the Argentine World Cup winner coveted by the biggest clubs in Europe? Moises Caicedo, who the Seagulls rejected £70m for in January and is probably worth a lot more now?

Kaoru Mitoma, with his university thesis in dribbling and ability to glide past any opposition full back as if they do not exist? Evan Ferguson, who is the Irish Erling Haaland or Wayne Rooney or Alan Shearer or Marco van Basten or Duncan Edwards, depending on who you ask?

What about Lewis Dunk and Solly March, two homegrown Brighton stalwarts turning in their best career performances since De Zerbi breezed into the AMEX Stadium as Graham Potter’s replacement in September?

The answer is actually the unheralded, underrated Pascal Gross. De Zerbi is on record more than once singing the praises of the 31-year-old German who has deservedly earned the moniker bestowed upon him by Albion fans of Der Kaiser.

In March, De Zerbi told The Argus as Gross prepared to make his 200th Brighton appearance: “To explain the importance of Pascal, I can tell you he is one of the best players I have had in my career. He is a fantastic player. He can play everywhere on the pitch.”

“He is fantastic in terms of attitude and passion. He is very clever to understand difficult situations and I am lucky to have him in my team. He is a leader like Lewis Dunk, like Adam Lallana, like Danny Welbeck. They are different types of leader but they are always positive guys.”

With De Zerbi such a fan, it has come as little surprise that the Albion have handed Gross a new contract which extends his stay at the AMEX through to 2025. De Zerbi again took the opportunity to sing Gross’ praises when the deal was announced, telling Brighton’s website: “He is one of the best players I have worked with during my career and every day I appreciate him more and more. He is one of the secrets to Albion’s success.”

While Gross does not attract the same level of attention or praise as Mac Allister, Caicedo and Mitoma, his departure from Brighton would be more keenly felt than any of his younger, more…