Fourteen years ago today, Brighton completed an impressive double swoop to acquire the services of Gai Assulin and Abdul Razak from Manchester City.
Upon their arrival, manager Gus Poyet labelled the promising deal a ‘no-brainer’ when speaking to The Argus. When speaking on Assulin, who was once nicknamed the ‘Israeli Messi’, he added: “Gai was one of the top young talents in the world four or five years ago.”
In the early years of his career, the then-20-year-old had impressed in the Barcelona youth ranks, eventually breaking into the Barcelona B team before manager Pep Guardiola was left with no choice but to integrate him into the star-studded first-team squad, which featured [Lionel Messi](https://thebrightonbase.com/brighton-news-lionel-messi-world-cup-neal-maupay/), Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta, Dani Alves and more.
Despite Guardiola’s faith, it was always going to be a battle for the attacker to break into that squad regularly. Therefore, in a bid for game time, Assulin made the bold decision to turn down his first professional contract at the Camp Nou and step back down to academy football to join Manchester City, the Premier League leaders at the time.
The forward continued to struggle for minutes, which ultimately took him to the Amex Stadium, where he would join his teammate Razak, the counterpart of the Seagulls’ swoop. Poyet was pleased with the Israeli’s arrival, saying: “If he shows what I think he can show and he is happy and Manchester City are happy, then he could stay very easily. We didn’t want to bring him here and then not play him for three months.”
As for Razak, his career began with Crystal Palace’s academy in 2008, before joining City’s youth ranks in 2010. Having made his first appearance for the development squad in 2011, it came as a huge shock that just three days later, he came on to replace David Silva in the Premier League as City rolled over West Brom in a 3-0 win.
Roberto Mancini’s decision to hand the youngster his debut made him the ninth-youngest player to ever appear for the Blues.
Poyet was just as delighted to land Razak, initially his only target, as he told [The Argus](https://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/9539481.gus-loan-deal-was-a-no-brainer/): “Razak is the midfielder we have been trying to sign, and we wanted to make him feel part of the way we play. He has got the ability and now we need him to learn very quickly and adapt to us”.
But despite such promising early careers for the two prospects, both struggled to get back on track with Brighton, combining to make 13 league appearances without a goal. The club did extend the pair’s initial one-month loan for the remainder of the season; however, that is where the story somewhat ended.
In total, Razak featured six times for the Seagulls, but never truly challenged the likes of Alan Navarro and Liam Bridcutt for a spot in Brighton’s starting XI.
In a similar vein, Assulin’s seven appearances were uninfluential, as he failed to pose any sort of threat during those cameos. Instead, the likes of Craig Noone, Kazenga LuaLua and Will Buckley primarily rotated out wide, leaving the loanee with no choice but to warm the bench for the majority of his South Coast stint.
For both Assulin and Razak, their careers continued to slide after leaving the Seagulls, eventually becoming journeymen at the hands of injury. Assulin spent most of his time back in Spain’s Liga 2, whilst Razak bounced around the English pyramid, before spending the seven seasons playing in Sweden.