Gomez ready to be Brighton's latest Latin American gem

South American football journalist Tim Vickery provides expert insight on Diego Gomez ahead of his January move to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Paraguay v Brazil, FIFA World Cup qualifier, back in September. A cross comes in from the Paraguay left, Gabriel heads it away, Bruno Guimaraes fails to close down quick enough and at the edge of the area, new Brighton signing Diego Gomez has time to pick his spot. 

It looks like it might have to be a left-footed shot, but Gomez manages to curl his right boot around the ball, sending off a subtle yet powerful outside of the boot shot that nestles in the corner. Alisson barely moved in the Brazil goal.

Gomez's goal v Brazil

It is a moment that highlights two things. First, Gomez would seem well capable of holding his own in exalted Premier League company.

Second, the young midfielder is right at the front of Paraguay’s charge to make it to the World Cup for the first time since 2010.

It is probably fair to say that Gomez and Julio Enciso, both of whom started with Paraguayan side Club Libertad and who now are reunited at Brighton, are the most important members of the team.

Olympic star

This will not come as a surprise to those who caught him on the way up. Just a week past his 19th birthday, Gomez made his debut for Libertad in a Copa Libertadores match in early May 2022. Less than five months later he was playing for his country.

At the start of this year he captained Paraguay’s Under-23s in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic qualification tournament - taken very seriously in the continent. South America only has two slots, and Paraguay took one of them, leaving defending gold medalists Brazil at home.

Gomez led from the front. He was tournament top scorer, also weighing in with assists and box-to-box leadership.

He did well, too, in the Paris Olympics - good experience for getting the World Cup qualification campaign on track.

Paraguay made a disastrous start. Gomez was missing from all of the three defeats they suffered. But in the six rounds between September and November, no one picked up more points.

Gomez nearly brought them victory away to Uruguay when his shot thudded against a post. But he secured the three points with that memorable goal against Brazil, and now they will take some stopping.

Where the generation of Miguel Almiron have proved Premier League aspirations can be achieved, the Enciso-Gomez combination holds out the promise of even better days ahead.

Impressing Inter Miami

There is a surface similarity between the careers of Almiron and Gomez. Both began in South America and then arrived at the Premier League via Major League Soccer. But there is a crucial difference. Gomez has made the journey quicker.

Almiron started at Paraguayan side Club Cerro Porteno, had a triumphant spell in Argentina with Lanus, and then spent two years in the United States with Atlanta United. By the time he arrived at Newcastle United he was almost 25.

Gomez spent a little more than a year with Libertad - long enough to pick up two league titles (the country plays two separate championships per year), before heading off to Inter Miami in July 2023.

In his year and half in the States he helped the team win the Supporters' Shield and was also named the best Under-22 player in the MLS.

Among the legendary roll call of veterans such as, Lionel Messi (left, with Gomez below), Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, his youth and dynamism were greatly appreciated.

“He’s a very important player for us for everything that he gives us,” said midfield maestro Busquets.

And now Gomez comes to England while still only 21 - with plenty more time to mature than was available to Almiron. He is also a very different type of player, one who might well be a more natural fit for the English game.

What type of player is Gomez?

Brighton’s new signing is a midfield powerhouse, a tall and strong player who, as that goal against Brazil highlights, can combine strength with technique. He is also splendidly versatile.

In these six recent rounds of World Cup qualifiers, Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro has used him in three different midfield positions; on the left side of a 4-3-3, as a central midfielder in the first line of a 4-2-3-1, and further forward on the right in the same system.

Gomez's first training session

Any coach would welcome a player able to carry out such different functions.

So where are the possible problems? One applies generally to all South American midfielders coming into the Premier League. He is going to have to up the rhythm of his game. This could be interesting. 

Does he lack a vital half yard of pace? If so, the Premier League will find him out. It will certainly be more difficult for him to find time to manoeuvre the ball on to his favoured right foot - just as he did for that goal against Brazil.

Some work on the left foot might well be required.

Another possible pitfall is his history of injuries. Gomez has endured cruciate-ligament problems, along with some other niggles. It is striking that, despite his importance to the Paraguay team, he is not being used for the full 90 minutes.

Caicedo comparisons

Coach Alfaro usually thinks about taking him off from around the hour mark. His playing style is sapping. Will he have the stamina to cope with the intensity of the Premier League?

These are pertinent questions - and it is surely going to be both fun and fascinating to find out the answers. Brighton would seem to have done it again.

The move, it seems, was agreed in the summer, before Gomez made such an impact on the World Cup qualifiers. Yet again Brighton appear to have been sharp in their scouting and quick on the draw.

They are different players, but there is something of Moises Caicedo in the box-to-box dynamism of Gomez.

If the Paraguayan turns out to be half as effective as the man from Ecuador now at Chelsea for a fee of around £100million, then Brighton will be celebrating yet another fine piece of business.