It came too late for the previous head coach Roberto De Zerbi, but the age profiles in Brighton & Hove Albion’s squad have started to change this summer.

De Zerbi’s departure, in May 2024, revolved around Brighton’s recruitment strategy at the time.

Broadly speaking, their signings back then fell into two categories: talented youth signed from all over the world — based on the data bank of the club’s owner-chairman Tony Bloom — blended with a group of senior pros in their thirties to set standards, aid the development of those youngsters and so help multiply their resale values.

However, De Zerbi wanted more signings that fell in between — players in their mid-to-late twenties with established track records.

This did not fit the model at that stage of the club’s journey.

The Italian, now back in the Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur boss after a spell at French side Marseille, parted company with the club at the end of the 2023-24 season, after leading them to European qualification for the first time in their history a year earlier.

His reign, spanning nearly two full seasons, ended with a 4-1 defeat on aggregate against Roma of his homeland in the Europa League’s round of 16 and a drop from finishing sixth in the Premier League in 2023 to 11th in his final campaign.

Fast forward to Saturday’s 3-0 friendly win against Roma at the Amex Stadium under De Zerbi’s successor, Fabian Hurzeler, secured by goals from Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari (two).

Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, centre-back Lewis Dunk and midfielder Pascal Gross (and he left the same summer De Zerbi did, and was then re-signed in this year’s winter window) are the only players still at Brighton from the starting line-up for the 1-0 second-leg win at home against the Serie A club in March 2024. That victory was a futile exercise in restoring dignity after a thrashing in Rome a week before.

Roberto De Zerbi after Brighton’s Europa League round-of-16 defeat to Roma (Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)

The extent of the churn since then runs deeper: just nine members of that 23-strong matchday squad are left.

The biggest shift has been this summer’s dismantling of the old guard and the number of players in their mid- to late-twenties signed across Hurzeler’s two seasons — filling the void between those colleagues with youthful promise and the long-serving veterans.

Danny Welbeck, the now 35-year-old who scored the goal against Roma two years ago, and Joel Veltman, 34, are the most recent exits, moving to Chelsea and West Ham United, respectively.

They followed 40-year-old James Milner, Solly March, 32, and Adam Webster, 31, who all left earlier in the summer. Milner retired after breaking the Premier League all-time appearances record, while March and Webster were released following long-term injuries.

Dunk, the team’s 34-year-old captain, Gross and reserve goalkeeper Jason Steele, both 35, have maintained a core of experience, but half of the six signings this summer highlight the move towards creating a greater balance in the squad’s ages.

Central defenders Pascal Struijk and Michael Svoboda will be 27 when the season starts later this month. Struijk has four seasons of Premier League experience with Leeds United, while Austria international centre-back Svoboda played for two seasons in Serie A and four in Serie B, the Italian second tier, with Venezia.

Portuguese right-back Costinha, 26, played in the Champions League and the Greek Super League for Olympiacos last season. Before that, he spent three years in his homeland’s top flight with Rio Ave.

The other three newcomers maintain Brighton’s usual policy of targeting global young talent.

Croatian centre-back Luka Vuskovic, signed from Tottenham, and Nigerian winger Zadok Yohanna, arriving from Swedish side AIK, are both 19. Portuguese winger Rodrigo Rego, a 21-year-old brought in from Benfica in his homeland, has been loaned out for the season to Spanish second-division club Castellon.

Luka Vuskovic joined Brighton from Tottenham this summer (Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)

“Of course, big personalities, big leaders, have left the club,” said Hurzeler on Thursday, speaking at an annual fans’ forum hosted by BBC Radio Sussex at the Amex.

“We are all very happy for what they have given. It’s not always that you can carry on, carry on, carry on. It’s like in a successful company, you can’t always say, ‘Oh, we are successful now, let’s just keep going’.  At one point, you have to make changes that are effective.

“Last season, I can remember many times Georginio Rutter or Charalampos Kostoulas (both alternatives to Welbeck) warming up beside me, and everyone was singing about Rutter or saying ‘Babis’ (Kostoulas) needs to play more minutes. That’s the opportunity now, for them to step up.

“On top of that, we have Ferdi Kadioglu: best football age, Mats Wieffer: best football age (both are 26), Bart Verbruggen has played so many years now in the Premier League (three seasons). We have added Pascal Struijk: best football age. Svoboda was a leader, captain of his club. We have added some great characters, and that’s also an opportunity for these players to step up.”

Hurzeler turned to his old guard last season during a crisis, before righting the ship to help Brighton finish eighth for the second year in a row and secure a place in the UEFA Conference League’s final qualifying round (almost certainly against Tromso of Norway) later this month.

Dunk, Milner, Gross and Welbeck all started in the 2-0 win at Brentford in February, while Veltman came off the bench in the second half to help secure only Brighton’s second league victory in 14 games going back to the end of November.

The average age of Hurzeler’s 10 outfield starters that day was 29, which was fine in an emergency but is unsustainable long-term in a league full of youthful pace, athleticism and energy.

The transfer business in and out of the club this summer has gone part of the way to addressing that issue.

In a hectic, ever-changing transfer market, there can be value in standing still.

Manchester United have, by elite Premier League standards, had a quiet summer 2026 window.

Their two major signings have not been of the splashy, marquee sort. Andrey Santos joined from Chelsea for £48million ($64.1m), plus a potential £2m more in easily achievable bonuses, off the back of a quiet campaign for the west London club, but the 22-year-old Brazilian midfielder has been their standout player during pre-season, impressing with his understated, intelligent play in midfield.

The only other addition, Youri Tielemans, is higher profile, arriving from Aston Villa after United triggered his £35million release clause. The 29-year-old, 90-time Belgium international got his first taste of football for his new club on Saturday, coming off the bench in an entertaining 1-1 friendly draw with Paris Saint-Germain in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

There will be clamour for further additions before the September 1 deadline, but the lack of wholesale turnover has allowed new permanent head coach Michael Carrick to preserve the stability he restored after taking interim charge in January following Ruben Amorim’s decidedly turbulent 14-month spell.

Carrick named an unchanged line-up in four of his 17 Premier League games last season — a feat Amorim managed just once.

That preference for continuity has carried on into this pre-season, a period when managers and head coaches often make plenty of changes.

Noussair Mazraoui replacing Leny Yoro was the only alteration from last weekend’s 2-1 win against Atletico Madrid across the country in Stockholm, as Carrick resisted the temptation to start Bruno Fernandes or Tielemans from the off in the PSG game, despite both being available for the first time following their post-World Cup holidays.

Upheaval and volatility have defined the 13-year post-Sir Alex Ferguson era at Old Trafford, with United lurching from one coach and philosophy to the next.

One way of assessing that instability is through squad churn, a metric that measures how much a team’s share of playing minutes changes from one season to the next. Zero would mean exactly the same players playing exactly the same share of minutes; 100 per cent reflects an entirely new team.

At United, churn has risen sharply over the past decade, a period in which they have faded from the title-race conversation.

Carrick’s side are, it must be said, still a way off returning to being talked about as championship contenders.

It is tempting to see the transfer market as a panacea for their shortcomings, to believe that a few lavish signings will supercharge a route back to glory.

No side embodied that thinking more than Saturday’s opponents, who once viewed Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe as their silver bullets. It was only after abandoning that obsession with superstars and pivoting to a more measured approach to squad-building, geared towards a clearly defined style of play, that PSG finally tasted the Champions League success they had craved for so long.

Closer to home, Liverpool have shown the pitfalls of an expensive facelift, splurging record sums on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak last summer only to free-fall from champions to a meek fifth-place finish.

Instead, having a consistent, longer-term core should help Carrick further develop this United side’s tactical identity, improve the players already at his disposal, and allow cohesion and team spirit to grow naturally.

That thinking has been consistent with his messaging throughout his short tenure. After last week’s defeat of Atletico, he specifically praised the team’s spirit and spoke of the squad building “different layers as we continue to push”.

This is an expensively-assembled group of players, talented enough to find internal solutions to different tactical challenges or fitness issues.

A good example is the shin injury that has kept United’s main centre-forward, Benjamin Sesko, out of pre-season action across the first four matches. Rather than source a direct, probably expensive, replacement in the market, Carrick fielded a fluid front four on Saturday, with Bryan Mbeumo deputising as the nominal forward.

That reshuffle opened the door for Amad, who shone on the right with a bustling performance, unsettling PSG with his sharp dribbling and laying on an assist for Mbeumo.

Those two rotated fluidly throughout, combined well and have developed a strong on-pitch connection. Establishing that sense of familiarity requires time spent playing and training together, something made more difficult by a constant carousel of new signings.

That is not to say United should be entirely passive for the final three weeks of this window.

Mason Mount went off injured in the first half yesterday, a substitution Carrick said was precautionary after a kick. But it was another reminder of the physical fragility of a player who has started just 25 league games since joining United for £55million three years ago, and the club should target a more reliable backup option.

Left-back could also do with reinforcements, with a thin pool of options available to cover for Luke Shaw, whose fitness record has been patchy during his 12-year career in Manchester.

Securing those additions, though, is secondary to the more pressing need to build and develop a strong starting XI, an area in which Carrick has made significant progress.

For that first-choice line-up, there is an argument United need to splurge on a more physical presence in midfield, someone in the mould of a Declan Rice or Elliot Anderson. But there is more than one way to build a successful side, and they do not need to conform to the Premier League’s current obsession with physicality and beef in the middle of the pitch.

Transfer fees have flown to gargantuan levels this summer, with £100million becoming close to the going rate for peak-age, ready-made talent.

In those conditions, United’s prudence makes financial sense. On the pitch, it might do too, giving Carrick and his players the space to breathe, develop and continue moving forward.

Need help with today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.

Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores.

A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes the answers — and hints — for the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.

You can access today’s game here. And when you’re done, try out our limited-edition Connections: Soccer Edition for an extra challenge.

Today’s difficulty

Game No. 685’s difficulty: 1.5 out of 5

Connections: Sports Edition hints for Aug. 9, 2026

Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.

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Yellow: ICE SKATE

Green: TURF TOE

Blue: LANSDOWNE STREET

Purple: CITY GROUND

Connections: Sports Edition answers for Aug. 9, 2026

Scroll below for the full answers to each of the four categories.

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Yellow

Equipment that comes in pairs: ICE SKATE, SHIN GUARD, SKI POLE, SOCCER CLEAT

Green

Injuries: HIP POINTER, SHIN SPLINTS, TENNIS ELBOW, TURF TOE

Blue

Fenway Park sights: CITGO SIGN, GREEN MONSTER, LANSDOWNE STREET, PESKY’S POLE

Purple

Premier League venues: CITY GROUND, OLD TRAFFORD, STADIUM OF LIGHT, STAMFORD BRIDGE

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

Connections: Sports Edition is The Athletic’s first-ever game, a daily puzzle designed for players to find connections between 16 words on the game board.

The game’s objective is to group words or objects into four groups of four based on commonalities within each group as quickly as possible. Find the groups without making four mistakes. Each puzzle has exactly one solution, so watch out for words or items that seem to belong to multiple categories!

Category examples:
Sports ____ : Fan, Car, Bar, Radio
U.S. Summer Olympians: Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles

Each category group is assigned a color, revealed as you solve, ranging from straightforward (yellow) to medium (green) to challenging (blue) to tricky (purple).

Who creates the puzzles for Connections: Sports Edition?

That’s me! My name is Mark Cooper, and I create Connections: Sports Edition and work as a managing editor for college sports here at The Athletic. I was previously The Athletic’s managing editor for breaking news.

The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!