Brighton sign Nigerian wonderkid Zadok Yohanna for £21.5m
Brighton & Hove Albion have completed the signing of highly rated Nigerian teenager Zadok Yohanna from Swedish side AIK Stockholm for a fee of £21.5m (€30m).
The 18-year-old winger has agreed a five-year contract at the Amex Stadium keeping him at the club until June 2031. The Seagulls are understood to have beaten off intense competition from several European heavyweights, including Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle United and RB Leipzig, to secure the youngster’s signature.
The deal makes the left-footed right winger the most expensive player ever sold by a Swedish club, eclipsing the previous record set when Tottenham signed Lucas Bergvall from Djurgården for €20m in 2024.
Yohanna’s meteoric rise saw him move from the Ikon Allah Academy in Nigeria to AIK in 2025, where he quickly established himself as one of the most exciting prospects in European football, registering five goals and four assists this season. His explosive form in the Allsvenskan also recently earned him a first senior call-up to the Nigeria national squad.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler expressed his delight at securing the wonderkid, stating that Yohanna is a dynamic and creative talent who can significantly impact games in the final third. Hürzeler added that while the teenager will be afforded the necessary time to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League, his pace and directness will bring a new dimension to Albion’s attacking options.
Yohanna, who will officially complete his move when the summer transfer window opens on 15 June, cited Brighton’s exceptional track record of nurturing and developing world-class young talent as the decisive factor in his choice to move to the South Coast
