West Ham United benchwarmer Luis Guilherme is not the only expensively-signed but seldom-seen winger struggling for opportunities in Premier League.
Thirteen months on from his £25 million arrival, the former Palmeiras wonderkid approaches his second season in claret and blue still uncertain as to what sort of a role he will be playing in Graham Potter’s plans.
That is, of course, presuming he has any role at all.
While Feyenoord have moved away from Luis Guilherme – the Dutch giants will not be making the Brazilian youngster their new record signing, after all – speculation over his future reared its head again this week.
Luis Guilherme has reportedly been the subject of an offer from Botafogo.
Club World Cup quarter-finalists Botafogo are keen to bring Guilherme back to Brazil. And while there is an acceptance that this will be a difficult deal to do – West Ham United obviously want to recoup much of that £25 million investment – discussions are expected to continue.
Over on the South Coast, meanwhile, Brighton and Hove Albion appear destined to make a financial loss of their own on another baby-faced winger whose considerable potential looks destined to go unrequited on English shores.
Before Luis Guilherme came Ibrahim Osman.
Brighton loanee Ibrahim Osman in action during Heracles Almelo v Feyenoord Rotterdam - Eredivisie
Photo by Andre Weening/BSR Agency/Getty Images
Former West Ham United target Ibrahim Osman has not featured at Brighton and Hove Albion
Back in January 2024, Nordsjaelland starlet Ibrahim Osman was keen to seal a move to West Ham.
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Having watched another Danish Superliga export and his fellow Ghana international Mohammed Kudus blossom at the London Stadium, Osman had hoped to follow in his compatriot’s footsteps.
West Ham saw a £15 million bid rejected by Nordsjaelland, however, days before Brighton and Hove Albion snatched Osman from under their noses to the tune of £16.6 million.
Flash forward to the present day, though, and while Luis Guilherme’s reputation remains fairly high, Osman crosses the channel into France ahead of what may already be a crucial juncture in his young career.
Osman joins Ligue 1 outfit Auxerre ahead of the 2025/26 season. And while Brighton technical director David Weir frames this as an opportunity for the 20-year-old to build up his experience in a major European league, the fact that the Seagulls included an option-to-buy clause in Osman’s contract tells a very different story.
Osman struggled on loan at Eredivisie giants Feyenoord
In stark contrast to Yankuba Minteh, the Brighton speedster who took Dutch football by storm during a loan spell at Feyenoord, Ibrahim Osman promised much but delivered very little at De Kuip.
Osman was chosen to replace Minteh in Rotterdam during the summer of 2024. He would manage only six Eredivisie starts, however; Dutch reporter Valentijn Driessen arguing that he appeared to plateau while Minteh’s ‘curve went up’.
“That kid isn’t polished,” agreed former Feyenoord midfielder Willem van Hanegem. “But I said that from the beginning. Sometimes, he does [show] something.”
A few brief glimpses of talent may not be enough to earn Osman a clear chance at a Brighton side boasting some of the finest wide forwards in the Premier League these days; Kaoru Mitoma, Minteh and Georginio Rutter, not to mention the returning Solly March.
There are, then, clear similarities connecting Luis Guilherme and Ibrahim Osman.
Two highly-talented yet largely unproven wingers who arrived amid big expectations. Expectations driven more by their potential and their hefty price-tags, rather than a solid track record outside of English football.
South American expert Tim Vickery summed up the Luis Guilherme situation perfectly, in conversation with talkSPORT last month.
“[There have been] changes in the European market. Europeans don’t want the best players anymore. They want the brightest promises,” Vickery said. “So, West Ham spent a fortune on Luis Guilherme, who had scored a grand total of one professional goal.
“They didn’t get anything out of him in his first season. It might come but it’s only potential.”
With Ibrahim Osman’s Brighton career now threatening to end before it ever really began, only time will tell if Luis Guilherme is destined to suffer the same fate.