Why Brighton should beat Crystal Palace to sign Dominik Greif
According to claims from Football Insider, as relayed by the Daily Mail, Brighton and Crystal Palace are set to go head-to-head in a transfer tug-of-war over Slovakian shot-stopper Dominik Greif, who currently plies his trade in his homeland with Slovan Bratislava.
As per the report, the Premier League duo sent scouts to keep a close eye on the 22-year-old during Wolves’ Europa League Matchday 4 fixture at Molineux last week and they were left impressed by the Slovakian’s heroics between the sticks, despite Bratislava suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat against the Black Country outfit.
The Daily Mail (h/t Football Insider) understands that both Palace and Brighton are keen to bolster their goalkeeping options moving forward and they are going to continue monitoring his performances in the coming months, with a view to a potential transfer in January.
Dominik Greif spent seven years in the youth ranks of his hometown club before graduating to the senior level in 2015 and the highly-rated shot-stopper has gone from strength to strength over the past few campaigns to establish himself as the undisputed first-choice in goal.
Plying his trade with Slovan Bratislava in one of the less fancied leagues in Europe, the 22-year-old’s rise has often gone under the radar.
The young goalkeeper made a number of sharp saves in the 1-0 defeat to Wolves last week while also denying Ruben Neves from the penalty spot.
His heroics came to nothing in the end, with Wolves securing victory courtesy of an injury-time headed winner from Raul Jimenez.
The 22-year-old has made a total of 24 appearances across all competitions so far this term, shipping 24 goals and managing an impressive 10 shut-outs.
Overall, the 2-cap Slovakian international has accumulated 27 clean-sheets from 94 appearances for Slovan Bratislava, numbers which are certainly good enough for a young goalkeeper.
To put things into perspective, Dominik Greif looks like a real talent with all the raw materials to make the jump to the Premier League in the years to come and Brighton would bag a massive coup if they manage to beat Crystal Palace to the signature of the 22-year-old.
Socceroos star Mathew Ryan has been the undisputed No.1 between the sticks for the Seagulls since the start of the 2017-18 campaign but currently, the 27-year-old’s numbers do not look at that great.
Ryan has shipped 129 goals in 86 appearances for Brighton across all competitions while managing only 20 clean sheets in the process.
It would be harsh to judge his performances simply based on those numbers, given that the Seagulls have often found themselves reeling at the bottom of the table, but it certainly won’t be a bad idea for Graham Potter to spread his nets across the continent in a bid to find an upgrade.
Verdict
Jason Steele and David Button have hardly played a significant role for Brighton and while they are really useful back-ups to call upon in times of crisis, someone like Dominik Greif, who is currently making waves with his rich vein of form in the Europa League, could possibly come through the door at the Amex Stadium as an upgrade.
Plus, Graham Potter has showcased a great deal of proficiency when it comes to moulding young talents and extracting the best out of them, as evident from the rise of youngsters like Aaron Connolly and Steven Alzate at Brighton.
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All in all, Brighton might not be crying out for a new goalkeeper at the moment but Dominik Greif seems to have a big future ahead of him and a potential move could pay off handsomely for the Seagulls in the years to come.