Brighton & Hove Albion have sold João Pedro to Chelsea for £60m and have sent Evan Ferguson to AS Roma on loan.
That leaves only Danny Welbeck as their primary striker.
While Welbeck is a well-established and consistent striker, he is also 34 years old.
Brighton have Greek striker Stefanos Tzimas coming back from a loan spell at 1. FC Nürnberg after spending £20.8m to acquire his services last season.
The Seagulls have stayed in Greece to find a replacement for João Pedro in 18-year-old Charalampos Kostoulas from Olympiacos.
They spent quite a bit of money to get him, £29.8m, to be exact, the highest fee ever paid to a Greek club.
According to Transfermarkt, he’s valued at £10.34m.
So what does Brighton see in Charalampos Kostoulas?
Olympiacos didn’t want to see one of the best Greek talents in a generation go so early.
Erythrolefkoi‘s sporting director, Darko Kovačević, called him a “marvel of nature” and wanted to keep him as long as possible.
Therefore, he wasn’t going to leave without a hefty fee being paid, which Brighton were happy to oblige because they knew they’d found one of the best young forwards in world football.
In this player analysis, we will examine Charalampos Kostoulas’ data profile and explain why he is the perfect replacement for João Pedro.
Charalampos Kostoulas Data Profile
Looking at Charalampos Kostoulas’ data profile, his numbers jump off the page immediately.
Charalampos Kostoulas Radar Chart
He scored seven goals in the Greek Super League in 13.3 90s and ranked as one of the best strikers in terms of shots, touches in the opponents’ penalty area, and aerial duels won.
While his playing time in the Greek Super League was limited, he starred a few years ago in the UEFA Youth League, scoring five goals in eight games as Olympiacos knocked off some of the biggest clubs in the world on their way to winning a trophy in the same season that the senior team won the UEFA Conference League.
He just turned 18, so he only has one senior season under his belt, but he is putting up these types of numbers in the Greek Super League, which, according to UEFA coefficients, is the 11th most difficult league in Europe.
João Pedro Replacement?
When you watch Charalampos Kostoulas on film, he reminds you a lot of João Pedro.
João Pedro was so important to Brighton last season, not because he scored 10 Premier League goals, but because of how much he was on the ball.
He consistently ventured out into the left half-space or dropped in deep to receive the ball from the centre-backs and connect the play when Brighton vacated the midfield in Fabian Hürzeler’s system.
As his radar chart below shows, he was one of the highest-ranked passing forwards in the Premier League last season.
João Pedro Radar Chart
While Kostoulas didn’t put up these types of passing numbers, he is definitely more of a false nine than a traditional striker.
You’ll often see him dropping deep into positions like this for Olympiacos.
From here, he has elite on-the-ball ability to make key passes or dribble by opponents.
Then, when you start comparing heat maps between João Pedro and Charalampos Kostoulas, you’ll see that they both typically operated in the half-spaces rather than in the traditional number nine role.
João Pedro Heat Map
Charalampos Kostoulas Heat Map
It is exceptional for an 18-year-old kid to be able to drop deep, receive the ball, and create for his teammates, especially in the Greek Super League.
From this situation, you can see that he receives the ball in the left half-space, draws four defenders to himself, and is able to pass right through them centrally to a teammate for a shot.
An Eye For Goal
Charalampos Kostoulas is perfect for Brighton’s system because his potential as a goalscorer, combined with his on-the-ball ability, may make him a better finished product in a few years than João Pedro.
Brighton’s tactical system under Fabian Hürzeler tactics is unique in that they used Pedro to not only get on the ball but pull centre-backs with him.
This allowed the centre-backs to play direct balls to Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh, who were making runs into the space created.
While his ability to drop deep and get on the ball is elite for an 18-year-old, he’s also elite inside the box.
Although he stands at 6’1”, he has great leaping ability and consistently beats defenders to the ball because of his aggressive nature.
Here is an example against PAOK.
He times his run perfectly to get onto the end of a cross and head it into the left corner.
Koustalas has a remarkable ability to find space and get off a shot.
Here, you see him drift into the half-space and make a run in behind, beating the defender and then slotting the ball home into the left corner of the goal.
Room For Improvement
Charalampos Kostoulas’ shot selection at times can leave a little to be desired.
He did finish last season with an xG per shot of 0.14, which is pretty good, but there were a handful of situations where he was selfish.
Let’s take this example from his goal against Aris.
He wins the ball high up the pitch, dribbles by the full-back, and creates a two-on-one situation with the last defender.
In most cases, once the defender commits, you’d simply pass it off to the striker for an easy tap-in.
However, Kostoulas decides to try shooting from a bad angle and does beat the keeper, but he could have created a higher xG chance if he had simply passed the ball to his teammate.
While he is an incredible dribbler, he needs to understand that he’s not going to be able to dribble consistently past defenders in the Premier League.
Not only will he not be able to dribble by defenders, but if he’s going to play a more central role, opposing defensive blocks in the Premier League are almost impossible to play through.
Last season, his dribble success rate was only 48%, which was around the average in the Greek Super League.
João Pedro himself only averaged 1.34 successful take-ons per 90 minutes, which was in the 90th percentile among Europe’s top five leagues.
This all highlights that he needs to pass the ball to his teammates if he wants to be more like João Pedro.
Conclusion
Charalampos Kostoulas just turned 18, so asking him to come in and give Brighton double-digit goals in the Premier League is asking too much.
He is one for the future, and I am sure will get plenty of minutes for Fabian Hürzeler.
He’s a rare forward with elite finishing ability who is also perfectly comfortable playing as a false nine, roaming into deeper areas to help in build-up.
The physicality level jump from the Greek Super League to the Premier League is big, but he’s mature physically for an 18-year-old.
He does many similar things to João Pedro for Brighton, but he has the potential to be a better finisher.
He has the rare all-around game and can do absolutely everything you would want from a striker.
He will have the benefit of playing alongside fellow Greek striker Stefanos Tzimas and will be able to learn from Danny Welbeck.
Kostoulas is one for the future and certainly has some room to improve.
However, Brighton may have found their João Pedro replacement.
