Brighton & Hove Albion have signed goalkeeper, Bart Verbruggen from Anderlecht for £17.1m.
Verbruggen becomes Brighton’s fourth signing of the summer transfer window and is set to battle Jason Steele for the no.1 role, with Roberto Sanchez’s future unclear after he fell out of favour at end of last season and deliberately chose to skip their final five games of the season.
Speaking about Verburggen’s arrival, manager, Roberto De Zerbi commented: “I am very pleased to have signed Bart.
“He is used to playing a type of football similar to ours and he will have no problem fitting into our group.
“He has the potential to become a very important player for the club in the coming years.”
The 20 year-old arrives at the AMEX Stadium as Anderlecht’s 2022-23 Player of the Year, and has signed a five-year contract until June 2028.
Verbruggen began his career at Netherlands’ NAC Breda before he moved to Anderlecht in 2020, where he has managed to concede just 39 goals 31 senior appearances in total across all competitions, whilst he also managed 11 clean sheets.
Verbruggen was also reportedly considered to be on Burnley’s radar with Clarets’ manager, Vincent Kompany having wanted a reunion with the 20 year-old, who had played under Kompany when the former defender was in charge at Anderlecht between August 2020 – May 2022.
Internationally, Verburggen currently plays for Netherlands’ Under-21 team and is part of their squad at UEFA Under-21s Euros, where he started in draws against Belgium and Portugal as the Dutch sit third in their group and face elimination.
His move to the AMEX Stadium will also see Verbruggen renuite with his Dutch Under-21s teammate, Jan Paul van Hecke from their time together at NAC Breda.
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