We need to talk about Diego Gomez and his first full season as a Brighton player. 10 goals and counting in Albion colours and two for Paraguay and yet he continues to fly below the radar.
Gomez remains underrated by large sections of the Albion fan base and goes unnoticed by much of the rest of the Premier League.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. It is actually quite refreshing for a young Brighton prospect signed from abroad to not be relentlessly linked with a move to one of the European Super League Elite Six. Although WAB may well have ruined that now if Todd Boehly is reading this.
Diego Gomez and his Brighton goal scoring record
The obvious place to start when analysing how good Diego Gomez has been for Brighton in 2025-26 is with the goals.
Double figures from central midfield is a seriously impressive feat, whether it is in the Premier League or Southern Combination.
Yes, four of those came against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup and another one past Oxford United. But that should still not detract from the achievement.
Goals are goals. Nobody is discounting 50 percent of Glenn Murray’s 111 in Albion colours just because they came in League One.
Underlining the point of how difficult it is to score 10 goals from central midfield is how rare it has been done by Brighton players – just twice this century.
Alexis Mac Allister managed it in 2022-23 and Dean Hammond in 2006-07. Both were helped along the way by taking penalties.
Several wingers have breached double figures like Gary Hart, Anthony Knockaert and Kaoru Mitoma. Now again you might argue with that and say Gomez is actually a number 10 or a wide player.
Is he though? He is certainly not in terms of traditional skill sets of those positions. Compared with Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh on the wing or Georginio Rutter and Joao Pedro last season in the 10.
What is Diego Gomez’s best position?
I think this is part of the reason why Gomez is underrated. Nobody really knows what his best position is.
How can Chelsea (other potential destinations are available) for example pinpoint or be linked with signing Gomez as a winger when he is probably not a winger?
Ask five different Brighton fans where Gomez is best and you will get five different answers. Right side. Left side. Number 10. Box-to-box number eight. Holding midfielder.
It further credits his goals haul that it has come without having a settled, defined position. Lots of players with the extreme versatility of Gomez struggle by being a Jack of all trades, master of none.
Mac Allister in his first two years at the Albion being a prime example. The indecision over whether he was a number 10 or a defensive midfielder meant he struggled to hold down a regular starting spot.
It was only once he settled into that world class midfield partnership with Moises Caicedo that Mac Allister became one of the first names on the team sheet.
From there, he ended up a World Cup winner with Argentina and a Premier League champion at Liverpool. A move to Real Madrid might well be next.
Little time needed for Diego Gomez to adapt to life at Brighton
The examples of Mac Allister and Caicedo provide another reason why Diego Gomez deserves more praise than he is getting for his 2025-26 campaign in a Brighton shirt.
As already noted, Mac Allister needed two years to acclimatise to English football after arriving from Argentina before he started living up to his potential.
Caicedo waited 18 months following his capture from Ecuador for his Premier League debut away at Arsenal.
Whereas Brighton had to be patient with Mac Allister and Caicedo, Gomez in contrast is delivering in his first full season.
Gomez might have been a teammate of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, but for him to find his feet in the Premier League so quickly after arriving from MLS is pretty phenomenal.
Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith has certainly been impressed with the impression Gomez has made. Smith told BestBettingSites.co.uk in a recent interview: “Brighton are obviously well known for heir recruitment and Gomez looks like another one.”
“First year in this league and it is a huge step up from the MLS. He is a versatile player and he has shown he can get goals. It is turning into a great acquisition for Brighton.”
Double figure goals despite being wildly inconsistent
What is scary is that Gomez is delivering goals whilst being pretty inconsistent. This is another factor in why Gomez is underrated. He is either really good in games or looks like he has never played football in his life before.
If you remember the latter performances over the former, it is easy to conclude Gomez is average at best.
But those days when he falls over his own leg in a promising scoring position or puts a shot at an open goal from three yards out backwards as we saw at Manchester City in January should not overshadow the many good days Gomez has enjoyed.
Inconsistency is par for the course when you have just turned 23-years-old and are less than 18 months into playing in a new league.
If (or when) Gomez adds greater consistency to his game, he will move onto a whole other level. How many goals might he then end up scoring from midfield?
The ability to go from class to woeful one week to the next means there is never a dull moment with Gomez around.
It is part of his appeal; entertainment is guaranteed whether he is in the mood for a good game or a bad game.
Fabian Hurzeler has presumably not made Gomez one of his most trusted players because of the entertainment he brings through erratic form.
Hurzeler values Gomez because he is hardworking, diligent and versatile. He is a very good team player. Being a goal threat helps, obviously.
And it will surely not be long until the rest of football starts rating Gomez as highly as Hurzeler.
Just keep your hands off, Chelsea.
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