A few days ago, it was reported by journalists Alex Crook and Florian Plettenberg that Brighton have agreed a deal to sign defender Olivier Boscagli from PSV Eindhoven when his contract expires on July 1.
Hours later it was given the 'Here we go!' by Fabrizio Romano.
The 27-year-old Frenchman is not your typical Albion signing, but they have beaten much competition to secure his signature.
So, what can he bring to Brighton? And where will he fit in?
VAVEL explores all here.
Club Career
Boscagli started his footballing career at FC Beausoleil in 2003, when he was five years old.
He stayed with the French club until 2011, when he signed for OGC Nice's youth academy at the age of 13.
He climbed through the ranks at Nice and his hard work earned him his **Ligue 1**debut in 2015.
The then 17-year-old played 84 minutes in a 2-1 defeat to Stade Rennais FC.
And a month later he was given another start in a 3-2 victory over FC Toulouse.
In the 2015/16 season he was a prominent part of Les Aiglons' side, playing 13 games across four competitions.
11 of his games - 774 minutes in total - came in Ligue 1, where he scored his one and only goal of the season against Montpellier HSC.
He also played 10 games for OGC Nice B.
The following season he played another 10 games for the B team, but only four games for the first team.
He played 90 minutes in the Coupe de la Ligue and 41 minutes in Ligue 1.
However, he did gain some European experience in the [UEFA **Europa League](https://www.vavel.com/en/data/uefa-europa-league)** playing 90 minutes against both FC Schalke 04 and FC Krasnodar.
The 2017/18 season started with him playing two B team games and one Champions League Qualifying game.
At this point he was 19 years old and at a stage of his development where he needed to be playing regularly.
So, on August 22, 2017, he was sent on loan to Ligue 2 side Nîmes Olympique.
In total he played 2,403 minutes across 28 league games for Nîmes and provided three assists in a season that saw his side finish second and be promoted to Ligue 1.
His assists came against AC Ajaccio, US Orléans, and Quevilly - Rouen Métropole.
He also helped to keep eight clean sheets.
Boscagli returned to his parent club for the 2018/19 season and helped them to a seventh-place finish.
He played 14 games in Ligue 1 and in his 864 minutes he picked up one assist, which came against SM Caen.
He also played 135 minutes in the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue and 180 minutes in the French fourth tier for the B team.
In the summer of 2019, he had a decision to make.
Stay in France with Nice or move abroad to Dutch side PSV who had made an offer for him of €2m.
At the age of 21 he left France and moved to Holland.
His first season with his new club saw him play 1,206 minutes across 18 games.
In those games he helped the Boeren to a fourth-place finish in the Eredivise and gained more European experience playing both legs of the Europa League Qualifiers against Apollon Limassol and 180 minutes in the group stage against Sporting CP and Rosenborg BK.
In his 12 league games he kept three clean sheets.
Come the 2020/21 season and he was a key figure in the PSV backline.
He played 42 games in total and in his 3,455 minutes of football he scored two goals and provided two assists.
His four goal contributions game in his 30 league games, with him scoring against Vitesse Arnhem and VVV-Venlo and assisting twice against Heracles Almelo.
His season also saw him play eight Europa League games, two qualifying games, and two TOTO KNVB Beker games.
It was a real breakout season for the then 22-year-old.
Boscagli picked up where he left off for the 2021/22 season, playing 3,883 minutes across 46 games.
In 28 league games he scored against SC Cambuur Leeuwarden, AZ Alkmaar, PEC Zwolle, and Twente Enschede FC.
This season was the first of the [UEFA **Conference League](https://www.vavel.com/en/football/2025/05/08/chelsea-fc/1222687-chelsea-1-0-djurgarden-5-1-agg-post-match-chelsea-player-ratings.html)**, so PSV had a very interesting European campaign, managing to play in all three competitions.
The Frenchman played in five Champions League Qualifiers, six Europa League group games, and three Conference League knockout games.
He missed the quarter-final second leg against Leicester City with a knee injury.
PSV went on to lose 2-1 and were knocked out of the competition.
Despite disappoint in Europe, Boscalgi and PSV won two domestic trophies.
The first came at the start of the season when they beat Dutch giants Ajax 4-0 to win the Johan Cruijff Schaal.
And the second came towards the end of the season when they beat Ajax once again, but this time to win the TOTO KNVB Beker.
However, the Frenchman missed the final with a knee injury.
None the less, he still secured his first two career trophies.
After two fantastic seasons, his knee injury that he picked up at the end of the season saw him sidelined for 303 days and miss 32 games in the 2022/23 season.
He returned for the final few weeks of the season and played one TOTO KNVB Beker game and seven league games.
He even managed to pick up a goal and an assist in the league.
He scored against NEC Nijmegen and assisted against AZ.
Although he did not play in either final, he once again won the Dutch Super Cup and Dutch Cup.
PSV again beat Ajax in both finals.
After almost a yearlong injury, Boscagli returned to his best the following season.
He played 4,075 minutes across 47 games, scoring three goals and picking up four assists.
Once again, all his goal contributions game in the Eredivise.
In 33 games he scored against Feyenoord Rotterdam, Heracles, and Sparta Rotterdam.
And he assisted against Ajax, PEC Zwolle, Go Ahead Eagles, and Sparta.
PSV also had a solid **Champions League**campaign, finishing second in the group and narrowly losing to Borussia Dortmund in the last 16.
Boscagli played and started six of the seven games.
It was another season of two trophies for the Frenchman and PSV, as they beat Feyenoord to win the Dutch Super Cup.
But this time they did not win the League Cup.
Instead, they won the Eredivise.
They put up a points tally of 91 points and only lost one league game the entire season.
Boscalgi had a seriously impressive season, which saw Brighton push to sign him last summer.
However, PSV refused to let the 27-year-old leave and rejected bids of around £8m.
Reports suggested that he was not pleased with being unable to join the Seagulls.
But he put his head down and played another 43-game season, scoring one goal and providing six assists.
30 of his appearances came in the league. Again, this is where he picked up all his goal contributions.
He scored against FC Groningen and assisted against RKC Waalwijk, Nijmegen, FC Utrecht, Go Ahead Eagles, and twice against Sparta.
The league title looked all but Ajax's, but PSV capitalised on dropped points and won their final seven games to win the Eredivise by one point.
It was back-to-back Dutch league titles for PSV and Boscagli.
The Frenchman and his side also enjoyed victories against Girona, Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Star, Liverpool, and Juventus in the Champions League.
However, they were knocked out in the last 16 by Arsenal 9-3 on aggregate.
They also last 2-1 to Go Ahead Eagles in the Dutch Cup semi-final.
Boscagli also captained the side on numerous occasions throughout the season.
The defender was out of contract at the end of the season and after talks with many clubs, Brighton manage to beat off some big competition and finally secure his signature to bring him to the AMEX on a free.
Fantastic business from the Seagulls.
International Career
Boscagli was born in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and is of French descent through his mother.
So, he has French citizenship and has represented France at international youth level.
He made his France U17 debut on February 13, 2014, at the age of 16 years, two months, and 26 days.
In total he has three U17 caps and he was called-up by Laurent Guyot.
He made his France U18 debut on March 27, 2015, at the age of 17 years, four months, and nine days.
He received nine U18 caps in total.
He made his France U19 debut on September 4, 2015, at the age of 17 years, nine months, and 17 days.
He was given 16 U19 caps, in which he scored one goal and picked up three assists.
His goal and assists all came in a 9-0 thrashing of Gibraltar.
He made his France U20 debut on August 31, 2016, at the age of 18 years, nine months, and 12 days.
In total he made 10 U20 caps.
His U18, U19, and U20 debuts were all given to him by Ludovic Batelli.
He made his France U21 debut on October 5, 2017, at the age of 19 years, 10 months, and 17 days.
He was given five U21 caps in total, in which he assisted against Montenegro.
He was called-up by Sylvain Ripoll.
He was playing well above his age at every youth level, but his last youth call-up came in 2018.
And he is yet to receive a senior call-up.
Perhaps that is something that can change now he is playing in the Premier League.
What can he bring to Brighton?
Boscagli is a Fabian Hürzeler centre back.
He is a defender who breaks defensive lines.
His style and profile are extremely unique, but he came be somewhat compared to the likes of Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez, Manchester City's Nathan Aké, and RB Leipzig's Castello Lukeba.
He plays similarly to how Hürzeler got Eric Smith playing for FC St. Pauli.
His characteristics have him weighing 68KG and being 5'11" tall.
He is slightly on the shorter side for a central defender, so that is something to look out for next season.
For PSV he averaged only 1.26 aerials won per 90, which puts him down in only the eight percentile.
In comparison Jan Paul Van Hecke has an average on 2.54, which has him in the 74th percentile.
However, his key strengths make up for his height.
His best attributes include his ambidexterity, body strength, technique, mentality, and pace.
One of his other strengths are his tackles and interceptions.
This season he made 2.04 tackles and 1.33 interceptions per 90, which put him in the 87th and 67th percentile against other centre backs.
It is clear he is a top defender.
He is also very good going forward.
This season he averaged 0.21 assists per 90, 0.14 expected assisted goals per 90, 0.19 non-penalty xG plus assisted goals per 90, and 2.95 shot creating actions per 90.
He was in the 99th percentile for all four of those stats.
He also averaged 0.63 shots per 90, which put him in the 70th percentile.
But the real reason Brighton were so desperate to sign him, is his passing expertise.
His passing statistics are ridiculous.
In the last year he is in the 99th percentile for passes attempted and progressive passes, compared to Van Hecke who is in the 84th and 98th percentile.
The Frenchman attempted 99.20 passes per 90 and played 12.75 progressive passes per 90.
He is also in the 97th percentile - as is Van Hecke - for progressive carriers, bringing the ball forward on average 1.51 times per 90.
His passing completion is 87.4%, which puts him in the 73rd percentile.
Interestingly, he also played 18 crosses in the 2023/24 season and 17 in the 2024/25 season.
If he can replicate these stats in the Premier League, then Brighton's chances created, and goals scored will go up tenfold.
Where will he fit in? And what will it mean for his new teammates?
Brighton are in dire need of centre backs.
And Hürzeler has expressed his want for more physical, intense, and athletic players.
Van Hecke fits that quoter perfectly, and so do Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk, and Igor in some regards.
But each of the three have a few cons that mean they will likely not be in the first three options for the heart of the defence next season.
Firstly, Dunk.
He has been an exceptional servant to the club and is without a doubt a Brighton legend. But his recent injuries and his drastic decline in performances over the last 18 months mean he is not at the level or availability to be starting week in week out for a club who want European football.
The captain has to be kept to provide good cover and important experience in the squad.
Next is Webster.
His performances in the seven-game unbeaten streak and in the last two fixtures against Wolves and Liverpool were some of the best he has ever produced, and he looked to make a huge difference in the system.
However, he has missed large parts of this season and last through injury and has always been an inconsistent performer.
The Englishman's fitness and consistency is something the Seagulls cannot and will not pin all their hopes on. Especially, if they want European football in 2026/27. Even more so if they qualify for the Conference league in the next few days.
The 30-year-old has what it takes to be the first-choice backup, but with his contract expiring next summer and Brighton reportedly looking to splash the cash on another central defender, he may will move on this summer if the game time is not what he will be hoping for.
It would be a shame to see him move on after his recent performances.
Finally, Igor.
The Brazilian is a fan and squad favourite at Brighton, and he has the passing ability to be considered a fairly important player.
But his recent long-term injury could hamper his availability in the future, and this is something Tony Bloom and this will consider.
He is also prone to unnecessary risky dribbles across the box and lapses in concentration, which leave huge gaps that team can and have exploited.
One big factor that Brighton also need to consider is how important he is for the many young South Americans at the club and the many they are likely to sign in the future.
On a personal level, he is 27 years old and at a stage of his career where he will want to be playing week in week out at the highest level.
And that is something that will most likely not be available for him on the south coast next season.
Both Igor and Webster have been fantastic servants, but it would be no surprise to see at least one of them depart over the next few months.
This is where Boscagli steps in.
At this moment in time - depending on who else is signed - he looks to be the first choice to partner the Dutch number 29 next season.
His ball playing is better than every other centre back in the squad and he is also faster and more athletic than the others too.
This links back to Hürzeler's recent desire for a player of his profile.
He is also left footed, which allows Van Hecke to play on his stronger right side.
He also has bags of experience, which will be invaluable in such a young squad.
The 27-year-old has also played a few games as a left midfielder and as a defensive midfielder and many games as a left back.
His versatility will also be key next season, and it is an attribute only Igor can somewhat match, with him being able to comfortably play left back.
He is also able to play in a back four and a back three. This is something that makes him even more valuable than those already in the squad who are not quite as stable in a three.
The transfer window is not even open yet, but it already looks like he will be either first or second at the back.
And if another new face is brought in, this will push Webster and Igor even further down the pecking order.
It is sad to see such likely players leave the club or have lesser roles, but if you want to progress then these are the difficult choices that must be made.
Boscagli will be a key figure for Hürzeler in 2025/26 and his acquisition will potentially allow the German to switch to a back three more smoothly if required.
A free signing of this calibre is a transfer you simply cannot complain at.