De Cuyper's rare assists feat shows future is bright for Brighton's left side

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His cross and corner for headers by Jack Hinshelwood and Lewis Dunk in Saturday’s 3-0 home win against relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers emulated rapid impacts by Andrey Arshavin for Arsenal against Newcastle in 2011 and Islam Slimani for Leicester versus Manchester City in 2016. The sweet deliveries by the Belgium international left-back highlighted that De Cuyper is another tick for Brighton’s recruitment department. He has been the standout signing of last summer’s transfer window after a £17.3million move from Brugge on a five-year deal. Of the others, Olivier Boscagli and Diego Coppola have both struggled for game time with skipper Lewis Dunk and Jan Paul van Hecke dominant in the centre of defence. Boscagli has been limited to nine league starts. Coppola has made more league appearances for Paris FC (12) than Brighton (five) after the Italian joined the Ligue 1 club on loan in January for the rest of the season. Coppola, at the age of 22, 18-year-old Greek striker Charalampos Kostoulas and winger Tommy Watson, 20, were signings with the future in mind, compared to proven 28-year-old Frenchman Boscagli. Kostoulas has started twice in the league. Watson was restricted to six substitute outings before joining Millwall on loan in January, where his number of appearances has doubled for the Championship play-off participants (two starts and 10 from the bench at the time of writing). The captain doubling our lead! 💥 pic.twitter.com/e9LkPE12LR — Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) May 10, 2026 De Cuyper? The start against Wolves was his first since February and only the 15th of his debut campaign at the club, but he has featured in 28 of the 36 league matches. He has not played more often because of the consistent form at left-back of Ferdi Kadioglu. The Turkish international has made more league starts (32) than any other outfield player. “I want to give a lot of praise to Maxim, because he is always there, he always trains intensely, he never gives up,” head coach Fabian Hurzeler told reporters after the 3-0 win over Wolves. “He hasn’t had an easy season, but what he has shown in training regarding effort, regarding togetherness, putting your own ego behind the team is just impressive. “I am really happy for him, because he is getting the rewards for all the hard work for himself, but also for the team. He has a special quality with his left foot and he showed it, proved it to everyone. Hopefully, he can keep going like this.” De Cuyper is a rarity for Brighton’s recruitment model; a player in the mid-20s age band (he is 25) with five seasons of top-flight experience behind him, with boyhood club Brugge, in a squad otherwise comprising mainly youngsters with big development potential or older heads to guide them. De Cuyper’s adventurous instincts stem from idolising decorated former Real Madrid and Brazilian full-back Marcelo and starting out at Brugge as a winger until the age of 14. He had 31 goal involvements (nine goals, 22 assists) in 114 senior outings for Brugge. It has been a similar story for Belgium, with four goals and two assists in 17 appearances for his country. He has established himself in Rudi Garcia’s squad heading to the World Cup this summer. De Cuyper was used on the left wing by Hurzeler — in front of Kadioglu — when he scored in a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest in November during Kaoru Mitoma’s absence through injury. De Cuyper should have completed a hat-trick of assists in the opening 14 minutes against Wolves, but Mitoma missed the target from his pass before the Japan international went off in the second half with a hamstring injury. Kadioglu and De Cuyper give Hurzeler a strong hand on the left side of the defence, which will be particularly useful next season if Brighton qualify for Europe, increasing the strain on the squad. They are in a strong position to achieve that goal, in seventh place in the table with matches to come away to Leeds United on Sunday and at home to Manchester United a week later. Four points should be enough to guarantee a spot in one of the three European competitions, all of which remain possibilities for Hurzeler’s side. It is familiar territory for De Cuyper. He played in the Champions League, the Europa League, and the Europa Conference League during his time at Brugge. What about the right side of Hurzeler’s defence? His selection against Wolves reinforced the need for strengthening in that department this summer. De Cuyper returned to the starting line-up and Kadioglu switched to right-back to cater for Mats Wieffer being ruled out by an ankle injury. Kadioglu can play there, but he is more comfortable at left-back (only four of his 32 league starts have been on the other side). It was a telling indication of the direction of travel for Joel Veltman, who is out of contract at the end of the season, and 34 years old. Choosing Veltman in a straight swap for Wieffer would have been less disruptive, but Hurzeler said: “We want to be offensive,” during his press conference after the match. “We were at home, we want to score goals, to create chances. Maxim, first of all, has really good quality with his left foot that can help us and on the other side he just deserved it, because he has been working very hard and waiting patiently for his moment.” Veltman, bought for just £900,000 from boyhood club Ajax in 2020 via a cut-price release clause in his contract, has been an outstanding servant for the club. He is sound defensively, with a knack for protecting the ball and falling over to earn free kicks in tight situations inside his own half, which stems from years of experience and game-management nous. Veltman does not, however, possess the same energy levels and ability to get up and down the pitch in support of the attack to suit Hurzeler’s style of intensity like the other three full-back options. Wieffer, like Veltman, a former Dutch international, has made an effective conversion to the role under Hurzeler since the later stages of last season after he was signed in the summer of 2024 as a defensive midfielder. They have made a similar number of appearances overall in the league across this campaign (25 for Wieffer, 23 for Veltman), but Veltman has only started eight times compared to 22 starts for Wieffer. Signing a right-back with a similar profile to De Cuyper and Kadioglu would solve one of the main issues in improving the squad. Spot the pattern. 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