On the 17th of April 2017, Brighton was promoted to the Premier League as they beat Wigan 2-1 whilst fellow promotion rivals Huddersfield drew against Derby. This was their first time in the Premier League and ended a 34-year absence from the top flight. Now, they enter their 8th season in the Premier League.
The question is, what happened to the starting XI against Wigan?
David Stockdale- Goalkeeper
Stockdale left the club in July 2017, joining Birmingham who sent him on loan to Southend United, Wycombe, Coventry and Wycombe again between 2018-2020. He then joined Wycombe on a free transfer in September 2020. Then, in February of the following year, he served a 14-day loan deal at Stevenage who needed emergency cover. He joined Sheffield Wednesday on a free in July 2022, York City in July 2023 and now hasn’t had a club since April 22nd 2024.
Bruno Saltor- Right-Back
The Brighton Captain retired in July 2019, playing 235 games for the Seagulls. He carried on at the South Coast, working behind the scenes until 2022 when he followed Graham Potter to Stamford Bridge. He took charge of the London side after Potter’s departure, drawing 0-0 to Liverpool as Interim Head Coach. He has since departed from the club too.
Uwe Hunemeier- Centre-Back
The German centre-back left the club in 2018 for SC Paderborn and retired there in 2023. He has now been Assistant Manager at the club for a year, seeing them finish 7th in 2. Bundesliga.
Lewis Dunk- Centre-Back
Dunk remains at the club, holding the captaincy since Bruno left in 2019 and playing for the first team for 14 years and counting. More recently he was part of England’s EURO 2024 squad who came second behind Spain.
Gaetan Bong- Left-Back
Bong left the club in January 2020 after 4 and a half years on the south coast, moving to Nottingham Forest and then shortly retiring 1 and a half years later.
Anthony Knockaert- Right Midfielder
The Albion legend left the club in July 2020 to join then-newly promoted Premier League side Fulham. A couple of months later, he was loaned out to join Bong at Nottingham Forest for the rest of the season. In the 22/23 season, he was loaned out to Volos NPS (Super League Greece) until January, then found himself at Huddersfield for the remainder of the season. For the 23/24 season, he played at Valenciennes FC after a free transfer in September and has since retired recently.
Dale Stephens- Midfielder
The midfielder joined Burnley in September 2020, after 6 and a half seasons at the club, and then had no club 2 years later and retired in March of last year.
Beram Kayal- Midfielder
The Israel footballer left the club at the end of the 19/20 season, then joined Israel Premier League side Bnei Sakhnin and has been there ever since.
Solly March- Left Midfielder
The England man remains at the club, having an outstanding period under former manager De Zerbi before his injury, and outlining himself again as a key player after 11 years since his first team debut with the Albion.
Glenn Murray- Striker
The Seagulls’ former main man left the club in February 2021 to join both Bong and Knockaert at Nottingham Forest permanently. However, he retired 5 months later and since has become an ambassador at the club.
Tomer Hemed- Striker
For the 18/19 season, Hemed was on loan to QPR, and in August 2019, he moved permanently to Charlton Athletic FC. By November of the next year, he was at Australian side Wellington before moving to Western Sydney the following season. He went back to his home country next season with H. Beer Sheva, then Maccabi Haifa in January 2024. Now, he is left with no club.
Chris Hughton- Manager
The manager to lead Brighton to promotion was sacked two years later due to 3 wins in 23 and only 2 points clear of relegation. He became the Nottingham Forest manager in October 2020, which lasted till September 2021 before being sacked again after a poor start to the season.
His next job was Ghana’s technical assistant, which lasted from February 2022 to February 2023, at which point he became Ghana’s manager for almost a year before being sacked due to a group stage exit from AFCON.
Conclusion
To wrap this up, 6 of the starting XI have retired, 2 have no club, 2 are STILL at the club and 1 is at a different club. The manager has no job as well.
