Tariq Lamptey Made Chelsea Regret Selling Him, But Now His Career Hangs in the Balance | OneFootball

There was a time, not long ago, when Tariq Lamptey looked like football’s next big thing. The £3 million fee Brighton paid Chelsea for him in January 2020 was seen as one of the bargains of the season. He was 19, fearless, and flying down the right touchline like he had something to prove. Which, of course, he did after leaving one of England’s biggest sides, Chelsea.

Chelsea fans were baffled, but in front of him at the time there were Tino Livramento and Reece James. Tariq Lamptey had just been handed his Premier League debut by Frank Lampard around the time he exited the club and was seen as an exciting prospect at the club. He had six months remaining on his deal at the time, and Chelsea could have either let him walk for free or gotten some compensation. At the time, it was better selling for a £3m deal that included a future sell-on fee but no buyback clause for Chelsea. Which looked like a pretty massive mistake almost immediately.

Pundits called him a revelation after watching him during his first few games at Brighton. Within months, Tariq Lamptey was linked to Arsenal. Then came the Tottenham rumours. The price tag being floated? £50 million. Now, Tariq Lamptey is 24 years old. He’s missed the final two games of the season with yet another injury, quelle surprise. Brighton are no longer building around him. Chelsea, it turns out, might not have been wrong to let him go. And Lamptey, once one of the Premier League’s most exciting young players, finds himself perilously close to the proverbial football scrapheap.

From Bargain to Breakout Star at Brighton

When Lamptey broke into Brighton’s side, it was electric. Not just because of his speed, though that was part of it. He had something more dangerous: intention. He played like someone who hadn’t been taught to wait his turn. He ran at people. He committed. He made you look. He was exciting.

Tariq Lamptey was the kind of wing-back who made fans edge forward in their seats the moment he picked up the ball. You didn’t know what he was going to do, but you knew it would be worth watching.

In a league full of structure and systems, Lamptey felt like the rawest kind of talent – instinctive, direct, technical, and unpredictable. You’d need a thesaurus to keep listing superlatives for him. For about six months, he wasn’t just Brighton’s breakout star. He was one of the most exciting players in the country.

Injuries keep dimming the light

It didn’t unravel all at once. That’s the thing with Tariq Lamptey: his career hasn’t been derailed by one dramatic injury but by the slow erosion of momentum and constant little injuries. A tweak here, a strain there, then another setback just when things looked stable. Each one chipped away at his progress until the promise people once shouted about became a quiet, uncomfortable question: what happened to Tariq Lamptey?

In the 2020/21 season, he missed 50 games due to injury. 50 matches of football! In that first year alone, he spent nearly 300 days sidelined; five separate injuries, two of them serious hamstring issues, robbed him of any real stretch of form. And the years that followed weren’t much kinder, either.

You can see the pattern right there in black and white:

When you look at it like that, it’s no wonder Brighton haven’t been able to build around him. They’ve been forced to treat him like a bonus player, great when available, but rarely a guarantee. There’s no consistency, and when you’re adjusting your tactics not to fit a star prospect in but to cope without him, it changes the whole conversation. And for Lamptey too, it is hard to build up form and fitness when you are consistently returning from another injury. When you look at the alternatives who have played instead of him this season, Joel Veltman, Jack Hinshelwood, and Mats Wieffer, they’re all different profiles from Tariq Lamptey.

There’s a bigger emotional toll too. Because Lamptey isn’t a player taking shortcuts. By all accounts, Lamptey works hard in rehab, keeps himself professional, and stays positive. But what do you do when your best version of yourself, that electric, boundary-pushing version, keeps getting left behind on the treatment table?

The phrase that keeps circling is “if he can stay fit”. It’s followed him from the end of 2020 until now. That “if” has defined his career more than any goal or assist or dribble.

Lamptey didn’t fall off because of form. He’s not a YouTube talent who fizzled when the real stuff started. His decline hasn’t been theatrical; it’s been quiet, grim, and painfully repetitive. The kind of career trajectory where the headlines stop, not because you failed, but because you vanished. One look at the above diagram shows that while his xAssist and carrying ability haven’t diminished over the years, his duel percentage and defensive actions have plummeted. Which could be indicative of a player bereft of confidence or not going into challenges due to fear of injuries.

And now, at 24, he’s on the edge. He’s no longer the “one for the future”. He’s part of the present, or he should be, when in fact right now he looks like he is part of the past. Except most weekends, he’s not even in the squad.

The Market Has Moved On

Clubs don’t hang around. There’s always a new name. A new kid on the block with pace and highlights. Lamptey had that moment, but football’s ruthless. You don’t get extra credit for what you could’ve been. Especially at a club like Brighton, who have scouts worldwide and are always trying to find the next cheap wonderkids from all over the world.

Brighton, once desperate to build around him, has moved on. Fabian Hürzeler doesn’t see him as an integral player in his plans and they’re likely to target a right back in the summer. There have been no contract extension talks. No public backing. Just another squad player with a patchy fitness record and no clear path back in.

In January, Ajax tried to take him off Brighton’s hands. There was talk of a deal, but it never happened, even with reports saying that he was set to leave for only £1.5 million. Not because Brighton were desperate to keep him, but because no one came in strong enough to make it worth their while. It said everything.

This summer, a move seems likely, especially with a contract offer from Brighton looking distant at this stage. The only links, though, have come from Everton and Ajax, who could do with a replacement for Seamus Coleman or could rekindle their interest from January.

Still vital for Ghana

The only place Lamptey still holds consistent value is with Ghana. Since switching allegiance from England in 2022, he’s become a trusted part of their setup when fit. The key word being when.

Ghana likes what he brings. A different energy. A different option. But even they’ve had to deal with the reality of his unavailability. He’s missed qualifiers, missed camps, and now faces a race to be ready for the 2026 World Cup push.

The trust is there, but even international patience has limits, with Lamptey’s last call-up being against Niger in 2024.

A career at a crossroads

There’s something quietly brutal about Lamptey’s story. He didn’t lose his way because of attitude, or money, or bad choices. He just couldn’t stay fit. And in football, that’s often all it takes. Some football wonderkids don’t fail for any fault other than bad luck.

You can work hard. You can say the right things. You can be grateful and grounded. But none of it matters if your body won’t cooperate. Eventually, potential fades into past tense. He should be entering his prime. Instead, he’s trying to prove he still belongs. Not to the top clubs, but to any club that might still believe he’s worth the gamble.

Because at 24, the question isn’t how good could Lamptey be? Does the streets won’t forget those Covid games.