New Brighton signing Matt O’Riley is already set for an extended spell on the sidelines. The Denmark international officially just joined the Seagulls earlier in the week from Celtic. Brighton brass paid the Scottish giants nearly $33 million for the dynamic midfielder. The fee, assuming future add-ons are met, will set a new record transfer fee received by a team in Scotland.

O’Riley made his official debut with Brighton just a day after signing a five-year contract. In fact, the central midfielder was thrown straight into the starting lineup by manager Fabian Hurzeler. O’Riley, however, was only able to play six total minutes in his first match on the South Coast.

Brighton hosted Crawley Town on the night in a Carabao Cup second-round fixture. In the earlier stages of the fixture, O’Riley collected possession near the middle of the pitch and sent a pass out to a teammate. Nevertheless, Crawley captain Jay Williams simultaneously lunged into the new Brighton star with a crunching tackle. O’Riley subsequently limped off the pitch after being substituted due to the foul.

Matt O’Riley injury: Brighton coach reveals new signing needs ankle surgery

Williams somehow escaped a yellow card for the dangerous attempted tackle but was cautioned several minutes later for another infraction. After the match, Crawley manager Scott Lindsey opted to apologize for the foul during his postgame press conference. Lindsey even went as far as to say his player likely should have been sent off because of the incident.

Brighton has now confirmed that O’Riley needs surgery to repair the injured ankle. Hurzeler would not commit to a particular timeframe for the star’s recovery but he will most likely spend months on the sidelines.

“It’s like we expected, a bad injury,” Hurzeler told reporters on Thursday. “He needs surgery on his ankle. I can’t say how long we expect him to be out. We have to look how the rehab will go.”

“But of course, it’s a tough one for us. We will try to support him the best way we can. We tried to get him as fast as possible on the pitch and let’s hope he will be back soon. It’s terrible luck for Matt and the club.”

The Matt O’Riley injury is a big blow to the Seagulls who have started the Premier League in impressive style.

O’Riley deal part of huge spending spree by Seagulls

The injured former Celtic midfielder was essentially brought in to fill the void left by Pascal Gross. A mainstay in Brighton’s midfield over the last seven seasons, Gross recently joined Borussia Dortmund. The midfielder was named as Brighton’s Player of the Year for the most recent season. He also previously won the award for the 2017/18 campaign as well.

O’Riley has been just one of several recent big signings for the Seagulls. In fact, Brighton has brought in nine new players this summer, with all but one costing a fee. In total, the club currently has a net spend of about $218 million during the transfer window. The spending spree has made the relatively modest team one of the top spenders in the entire Premier League.

Following the match against Crawley, Brighton also announced the signing of Turkish star Ferdi Kadıoğlu. The defender’s transfer fee was similar to that of O’Riley’s.

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