Brighton news: Opinion - Yasin Ayari impresses at the Amex

Before the start of this season, not many football fans outside of Brighton, Blackburn and Swansea will have heard of Yasin Ayari. And neither Rovers nor Swans fans will have been particularly impressed, one imagines.

The Swedish midfielder did not pull up any trees on his two loan spells in the Championship last season.

This makes Ayari similar to compatriot Viktor Gyokeres, who did so little in temporary switches to Swansea and Coventry City that the Albion were happy to sell him to the latter for £1m.

Three and a half years later and Gyokeres is one of the hottest properties in European football whose £85m release clause in his Sporting contract could be activated by any of the multiple Premier League clubs rumoured to be interested in his services.

Gyokeres is the one who got away from Brighton. In contrast, Ayari has seized an unexpected opportunity to prove himself at the Albion, in spite of those two disappointing loans.

A combination of selling Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour, Jack Hinshelwood starting the campaign at full-back and injuries to James Milner, Matt O'Riley, Brajan Gruda and Ferdi Kadioglu has meant Ayari was thrust into Premier League action almost by default.

Even as those players return, Ayari has maintained his place - and deservedly so.

He gets better with each game, culminating in a man-of-the-match display against Liverpool in which he and Hinshelwood were central to Brighton dominating the first half at Anfield.

The highlight was a pass which left a defender as good as Virgil van Dijk looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights. If Georginio Rutter had converted the chance it created, Ayari would have the best assist of the season so far to his name.

It is a name the rest of English football will soon know if Ayari continues his rocketing rate of improvement.