Pascal Gross is the oldest player to win the Premier League’s player of the month award since Paul Scholes. The Germany midfielder was named the September winner at 35 years and three months, making him the sixth-oldest recipient in the award’s history and the first Brighton player ever to lift it.
He had five goal involvements over the month: two goals and three assists in a run that left Brighton having conceded only once in the league. The 5-0 away win at Coventry City brought a goal and two assists; the 3-0 defeat of Arsenal at the Amex, on the club’s 125th anniversary, brought another goal and an assist for Chema Andrés.
Only Stuart Pearce and Teddy Sheringham, both at 38, Cristiano Ronaldo at 37, Gianfranco Zola at 36 and Scholes at 35 years and nine months have won the award at an older age.
From Dortmund back to the Amex
Gross left Brighton for the Bundesliga in 2024 after seven seasons on the south coast. He rejoined on an 18-month deal in January, with the contract running to June 2027.
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He said at the time that he had never really let go of the club.
“I just stayed in touch with all the lads over the time away. The whole club: the Amex, the fans, the city, I always feel really comfortable as a football player, and as a family man.”
The Dortmund spell, by his own account, had required a specific pull to tempt him away in the first place.
“It was really difficult. Only something really special got me out here. Something I wanted to see with Dortmund, the home games, the stadium, Champions League football, a team I followed since I was really young.”
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Eight on the ballot
The vote put him up against Charalampos Kostoulas, Mohamed Belloumi, Jayden Bogle, Alexander Isak, Jeremy Jacquet, Kevin Schade and Antoine Semenyo on the Premier League’s shortlist, decided by a combined vote of fans, a panel and the league’s football experts. His own Brighton team-mate Kostoulas was among those he beat.
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