Albion Analytics: Gross's numbers prove he's not just sentimental signing

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A look at the influence of the German midfielder.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2026-01-10T06:00+00:00

Pascal Gross was Albion's first signing as a Premier League club. 📸 by James Boardman.

After 18 months away, in which Pascal Gross played 66 times for boyhood club Borussia Dortmund, scoring in the Champions League and assisting 17 goals — at a rate of one every three matches — the midfielder is back at the Albion.

Gross was Brighton’s first signing as a Premier League club in the summer of 2017 from Ingolstadt, who were relegated from the Bundesliga.

He enjoyed a fine debut season on the south coast, scoring seven and setting up eight more to help Brighton finish 15th and sustain their Premier League status. That term, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Cesc Fabregas, Mesut Ozil and Eden Hazard — all players at ‘Big Six’ clubs — were the only players to create more chances than Gross.

Across the six seasons that followed, he remained the key creator as Brighton changed between head coaches and styles. Chris Hughton deployed him as a No 10 off Glenn Murray (10 goals and 12 assists under him in 66 matches), Graham Potter used Gross in a variety of roles, including as a false winger, deep-lying midfielder, and even at full-back (10 goals and 20 assists in 109 matches).

Pascal Gross played under Chris Hughton for two years. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

His peak years came under Roberto De Zerbi (12 goals and 22 assists in 85 appearances), whose preference to try and play through teams and against the press maximised Gross’ technical quality, and improved the attacking play from out wide, meaning Gross could crash the box to score.

In 2022/23, as Brighton finished sixth and earned Europa League football, he was the team’s leading scorer when excluding penalties (9), had the most assists (8), and came out on top for progressive passes (255), chances created (80) and crosses (224) in a midfield which also featured Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister.

Fittingly, his excellent campaign was rewarded with a senior Germany call-up, nearly 13 years after Gross had appeared for the under-20s.

When he came on during a 4-1 friendly defeat to Japan in September 2023 (with Kaoru Mitoma playing for his country too), Gross became the second-oldest outfield debutant for Germany since 2010 — only Kevin Behrens, six months older than Gross, then aged 32, two months and 25 days, was a more senior debutant.

Pascal Gross has played 16 times for Germany. 📸 by DFB / Philipp Reinhard.

He also remains the only Brighton player to reach double digits for assists in a Premier League campaign, with ten in 2023/24 — since the start of 2018/19, the only central attacking midfielders outside of ‘Big Six’ club to also assist ten-plus goals in a season are Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford, 2024-25) and Morgan Gibbs-White (2023-24).

Assists can be a noisy metric, with clinical teammates boosting the numbers and wasteful ones not reflecting true chance creation, so it is worth remembering that Gross made 103 key passes in 2023/24, one of only seven instances since 2018/19 of a player creating a century-plus of chances.

So good was Gross that term, he completed 37.4% of his crosses — more than one in three — with Brentford’s Mathias Jensen (38.1% completion, 2023/24) the only player in a Premier League season in the past seven years to attempt more than 100 crosses and be more accurate.

In particular, his dead balls became an area of expertise. Since August 2018, Gross created 63 chances for Lewis Dunk and assisted the centre-back seven times, both of which remain the highest between two Brighton teammates, and should well be added too across this season.

Considering Fabian Hurzeler’s side have netted six goals from corners in 2025/26 (only Tottenham Hotpur, Arsenal and Chelsea have more), this is adding quality to a pre-existing strength.

We will no doubt be treated to some more Pascal Gross set-pieces following the German's return. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Then there is the experience boost Gross will provide to a team which is relative young, the average age of Brighton starting XIs this season being 25.9yrs — they are one of seven clubs younger, on average, than 26.

In midfield, especially, while Carlos Baleba (aged 22), Yasin Ayari (22) and Jack Hinshelwood (20) are far from rookie players, with 182 Premier League appearances combined, Gross has played in the competition more than the trio combined (230 matches, making his second Albion debut as a substitute in the 2-0 home win over Burnley).

Hurzeler has spoken fondly of his fellow German, "We brought him in to play, therefore he is an option and he plays a big part of our thoughts for the second part of the season.

He has praised the now 34-year-old — adding to the experienced senior group with Dunk (34), Danny Welbeck (35) and James Milner (40) — for being able to “ define the rhythm of the game, create chances and finish in attack.”

Albion’s first signing of the January transfer window is not just sentimental, but an important one.