Albion Analytics: Diego Gomez clocks up half a century

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Paraguayan hits landmark appearance.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2026-03-11T10:15+00:00

Diego Gomez made his 50th appearance for Albion in our defeat to Arsenal last week. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Paraguay international Diego Gomez reached 50 games for Brighton when he started the Premier League match at home to Arsenal last week.

The 22-year-old, who was signed from Inter Miami in January 2025, has scored 11 times since his arrival. Only Kaoru Mitoma (13) and Danny Welbeck (22) have netted more goals for the Albion, across all competitions, in that time.

He ranks fifth in 2025/26 for league minutes played by Brighton players, with defensive trio Jan Paul van Hecke (2,400), captain Lewis Dunk (2,385) and versatile full-back Ferdi Kadioglu (2,323) clocking more than Gomez’s 1,752 minutes, while Bart Verbruggen hasn't missed a minute of league action (2,610).

Diego Gomez joined Albion from Inter Miami in January 2025. 📸 by James Boardman.

“He can come into the middle quite a lot, he can stay as a winger, he can attack the opponents' box, he can get into positions where he can score goals, and I think that suits him, and on top of that he's also very disciplined at tracking back,” head coach Fabian Hurzeler said of Gomez’s Swiss army knife qualities in November 2025.

He has played a variety of midfield roles, complementing Kadioglu’s attacking tendencies, and notably scored four goals in Brighton’s 6-0 League Cup away win over Barnsley last September. That was the fourth Albion hat-trick across all competitions since August 2021, with Gomez joining a club that features Leandro Trossard (vs Liverpool in October 2023), Evan Ferguson (at home to Newcastle, September 2023) and Joao Pedro (vs Sheffield United, January 2024).

Gomez is developing a reputation for deadeye finishing from distance and tight angles. Nine of his Brighton goals have been one-touch finishes and four of the 11 have been scored from outside the box.

In fact, his hat-trick goal at Oakwell against Barnsley — which meant he scored three times in just 24 minutes — was fired in from 35.4 yards (32.4m), the longest-range goal by any Brighton player in the past five years.

His 42% shot accuracy is well above the Premier League midfielder/forward average this term (35%), while Gomez ranks seventh among his positional peers for tackles (69), attempting just two fewer than former Albion midfielder Moises Caicedo (71) — and he has won a majority of the 76 aerial duels which he has contested.

Diego Gomez has scored 11 goals in his 50 Albion appearances. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

The technical quality of the 22-year-old has been clear since his full Brighton debut, in a 2-1 home victory against Bournemouth in February 2025. He completed 31 of his 36 passes that night, playing 72 minutes as a defensive midfielder next to Carlos Baleba. His eight passes into the final-third was the joint-most in the team (tied with van Hecke), while only Mitoma put up more than Gomez’s five dribbles, and he also made two through balls.

Beyond his attacking output, Gomez’s work rate and defensive contributions are pivotal to Hurzeler’s side, especially in implementing their out-of-possession game plan. Ismaila Sarr, Dominik Szoboszlai and Bryan Mbeumo are the only Premier League midfielders to put up higher sprint distance numbers per match this term. Only Arsenal (148) have made more final-third regains in 2025/26 than Brighton (142).

“He tracked the opponent quite well, he had a lot of good recovery runs, he defended his own box well,” Hurzeler said when praising Gomez earlier this season.

He is one of just 13 Paraguayans to play in the Premier League, and Gomez has a record to target of 26 goals scored by countryman Roque Santa Cruz for Blackburn Rovers.

Time is on his side and he has started to find consistency in-front of goal. Gomez scored for the first time in consecutive Premier League gameweeks at the end of February/start of March, netting the opener in Brighton’s wins over Brentford and Nottingham Forest. Both goals showed his attacking instincts to react to a loose, dropping ball, and his finesse to strike on the half volley.