Why have Brighton signed two very similar Greek strikers?

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Brighton & Hove Albion have spent upwards of £50million ($67m) this year on two Greek teenagers that play in the same position in the front line.

So, can Charalampos Kostoulas (left in top image) and Stefanos Tzimas (right) feature together in the starting line-up, or will head coach Fabian Hurzeler be choosing between them next season?

There are parallels between the Greece Under-21 team-mates in terms of their rapid rises, value and goalscoring. Kostoulas, 18, joins Brighton from Olympiacos on July 1 for €35m (£29.6m; $40.2m) plus €2m in add-ons. That is more than the fee of £20m plus add-ons paid for 19-year-old Tzimas from German club Nurnberg at the end of the January transfer window.

Kostoulas contributed seven goals and two assists in 30 appearances in the Greek Super League (which Olympiacos won) and the Europa League last season (Olympiacos lost 4-2 on aggregate to Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in the last 16 of the competition).

Tzimas’s output was higher in the 2024-25 campaign — 12 goals and three assists in 23 outings — albeit at a lower level in Germany’s second tier. Nurnberg signed Tzimas initially on loan from PAOK in his homeland before exploiting a buy option in the deal and then selling to Brighton.

Both players are predominantly right-footed finishers, around 6ft (183cm) tall and have agreed contracts with Brighton until 2030.

But enough with the similarities, how are they different?

“We play the same position, but I think we have different characteristics,” said Kostoulas, speaking to the club website last week after his signing was announced. “He (Tzimas) is fast, he is strong, he is very smart on the pitch and off it. He is hanging around the goal every time. He wants to finish the actions, he wants to score.”

Tzimas showed his poaching instincts when he scored for Nurnberg against Hannover in March (see clips below). When a shot from Janis Antiste deflected off Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler onto the crossbar, Tzimas reacted fastest to head in the loose ball from close range.

The next set of clips shows how Tzimas pounced in a similar fashion against Karlsruher in January.  He was ready to pick up the pieces when Julian Justvan had a shot parried by the visitors’ goalkeeper, Max Weiss.

Tzimas controlled the ball with his knee and scored with a looping header.

Tzimas also showed the attributes of a No 9 when he was on target in March against Greuther Furth. He makes a run infield in anticipation of a pass developing into an opportunity.

The failure of a Greuther defender to cut out the pass left Tzimas running into space one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

He opened up his body to slot the ball past the advancing Nahuel Noll with his trusty right foot.

“The biggest difference is that Tzimas is an out-and-out No 9,” Greek football writer and podcaster Stephen Kountourou tells The Athletic. “Kostoulas, meanwhile, can play anywhere in the attacking line and definitely feels more like a spiritual successor to Joao Pedro, if the Brazilian forward does leave this summer.”

The versatility of Kostoulas is highlighted by the different types of goals he has scored for Olympiacos, operating in different areas of the pitch. In the clips below, he came off the bench against rivals Panathinaikos to make a darting run that caught the visiting defence flat-footed as he headed in a free kick from Brazilian Rodinei, sealing a 4-2 victory.

Kostoulas did all the work himself in a home game against Aris Thessaloniki in November. He pressed voraciously as the visitors passed the ball in a triangle near the halfway line.

Kostoulas wins the ball in a tackle and makes progress towards the penalty area, evading a challenge from an Aris defender.

Once he is inside the penalty area, he shows composure to equalise with a right-footed shot into the far corner. Kostoulas went on to snatch the points in the same game with a 96th-minute header.

6ft

In the final set of clips, against Volos in December, Kostoulas points to where he wants the pass as he makes a diagonal run across the central defender 30 yards from goal.

He shifts the ball with his left foot back onto his favoured right foot to plant a low shot past Volos goalkeeper Daniel Kovacs, who is fooled into thinking he is aiming for the opposite side of the net.

Kostoulas has scored five goals in 15 appearances representing Greece in age groups from under-16 to under-21. Tzimas has netted 16 times in 32 outings across the same range of age groups. They are tipped in their homeland to soon be making senior appearances at international level.

“Both are explosive players when it comes to running,” says Kountourou. “Both are good physically and seem not to shy away from worrying about scoring when it comes to the big moments, because they know they are still young and they have the time to develop. In short, they aren’t afraid to make those mistakes, because they will try and try again.”

The striker options are currently in a state of flux for Hurzeler next season, amid doubts over the futures of Joao Pedro, Julio Enciso and Evan Ferguson. Danny Welbeck and Georginio Rutter are respectively strong options for the No 9 and No 10 roles, while Brajan Gruda showed in the latter stages of last season as the injured Rutter’s replacement that he can also be in the mix.

The additions of Kostoulas and Tzimas bring an intriguing dimension to Brighton’s forward options for the 2025-26 campaign. Kostoulas said during his signing announcement: “Stefanos is my friend. He is a very good guy, a very good player. We had some discussion about here and I can’t wait to play with him on the pitch.”

(Top photos: Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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