Olivier Boscagli’s Brighton breakthrough has been a long time coming - now he is making himself impossible to ignore

The writing was on the wall regarding Jan Paul van Hecke’s future before the transfer window even opened, whilst many couldn’t shake the feeling that Manchester United were simply biding their time before reigniting their pursuit of Carlos Baleba.

There was a sense of inevitability about other departures, as though it was simply a matter of when, rather than if, Brajan Gruda, Diego Coppola and Igor Julio were sold.

Some of the Albion faithful could be forgiven for grouping Olivier Boscagli into that ‘expected departures’ category, but an exit was never on the cards. However, few could have envisioned such a drastic rise in his importance at the Amex Stadium over the past few months.