Brighton & Hove Albion knew to a large extent what they were getting when they re-signed Pascal Gross from Borussia Dortmund in January.
A midfield thoroughbred. A reliable performer capable of providing goals and assists, who would also be a big influence in the dressing room.
The part they could not be sure about was whether Gross, in the latter stages of his career — having been away for 18 months and gone past his 34th birthday last summer — would still have the same level of impact on the pitch.
That slight doubt has been answered during this international break. He should have been resting, enjoying some days off with other members of the squad not selected for their countries.
Instead, Gross has been helping Germany prepare for this summer’s World Cup in two friendlies after a recall to the national squad by coach Julian Nagelsmann as a direct result of his form second time around for Brighton.
In Switzerland last Friday, Gross came off the bench in the 80th minute. Within five minutes of his introduction by Nagelsmann, he was doing what comes naturally. Gross set up Florian Wirtz for the Liverpool man’s second goal, which clinched a 4-3 win, feigning as if to shoot before playing a right-footed pass that shifted the direction of the attack and opened up space on the edge of the box for Wirtz to place his effort into the net.
That contribution was not surprising from a player who has accumulated an impressive 70 assists across 351 top flight appearances in the Premier League and the Bundesliga during his career.
Gross has seamlessly readapted to life at Brighton (Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
Gross followed that up with his first start for Germany since September in Monday’s friendly against Ghana, playing for 61 minutes in a 2-1 win in Stuttgart.
Gross was 32 when he earned his first senior call-up for Germany under Nagelsmann’s predecessor, Hansi Flick, in August 2023. Nagelsmann included Gross in the host nation’s squad for the 2024 European Championships. He featured in the second half of a 5-1 thrashing of Scotland in the group stages before Germany were knocked out 2-1 in the quarter-finals by tournament winners Spain.
Gross was not included in the squad for World Cup qualifiers last October and November while he was at Dortmund. His international career appeared to be over, but his displays for Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton side won him a reprieve in a group of 34 players named by Nagelsmann for the Switzerland and Ghana games.
“Fabian Hurzeler summed it up well, ‘Pascal makes other players better’,” Nagelsmann told reporters in Germany after the squad announcement. “He has the gift of connecting players with one another. I see him as a magnet among the players, someone who has a good sense of who needs what at any given moment. He’ll be good for us. Pascal is very, very selfless. He’s simply a great person and therefore also a really good squad player.”
Hurzeler wanted Gross to stay at Brighton after his appointment in the summer of 2024, but he could not talk him out of joining Dortmund. Since his return at the start of the year, Gross has been an integral part of Hurzeler’s team, playing mainly in central midfield but also occasionally at No 10.
Gross has been involved in all 12 league games in 2026, starting the last 11 of those matches since his second spell at the club began off the bench in the second half of a 2-0 home victory over Burnley. He scored in a 1-1 draw against Everton at the Amex Stadium, provided a passing assist for Diego Gomez to open the scoring in a 2-1 home win against Nottingham Forest and has played every minute of the last seven fixtures.
“There is a phrase in Germany: he is the long arm; he makes players around him better,” Hurzeler said of Gross’s international recall before the recent 2-1 home win against Liverpool.
“I’m really happy for Pascal. He deserves it, because he’s working hard, he’s training hard, he’s there for me, he’s there for the team. He has performed really well since he has been (back) here.
“Julian saw the games from Pascal, saw the way he is performing, and he knows what great personality Pascal has. He always puts the team first and that’s crucial for every national team coming to a World Cup.
“It’s a really short period of time, players are coming from all different clubs, so the main thing for me would be how to create togetherness. You cannot replace Pascal if you want to build connections, build togetherness in a group. This can be key, the game-changer that might win the World Cup.”
Assuming he makes the final cut, Gross could face former Brighton team-mates Moises Caicedo (Chelsea) and Pervis Estupinan (AC Milan) against Ecuador at the World Cup in group E, which also includes Curacao and Ivory Coast.
Gross made the second highest number of league appearances (37) in a season throughout his first stint at Brighton alongside Caicedo and Estupinan in 2022-23, combined with a career-best tally of nine goals for a single campaign, as former head coach Roberto De Zerbi steered the club to European football for the first time.
Gross’s nine goals in 2022-23 helped Brighton a sixth-place finish (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Gross will be a key figure in the seven matches remaining as Hurzeler’s team, back up to tenth in the table following four wins in five matches, bid to sneak into a Europe qualification spot.
“It’s difficult to have to high expectations,” Hurzeler told The Athletic about the second coming of Gross in January. “If your expectations are too high, then the reality is not what you expected, your happiness level is not that high. I wasn’t meeting or facing him (during talks) with high expectations. I want that he continues as he finished when he left this club and I heard only positive things about him as a person, as a player.
“We had a constant exchange when he was away (at Dortmund) that gave me always a good feeling because he was always interested in following our games, interested in how the boys are doing. And I think that shows that his heart is and was with this club and then he stepped into this environment and he definitely had a a great impact on everyone.
“Impact on his team-mates and impact on me and impact on employees of the club — an impact on the fans. Remember how he was welcomed by the fans… that shows they really love him. If I’d had expectations, they would 100 percent be fulfilled by how he’s acting, how he is performing and how important he is for me and the team.”