Chema Andres may not feature in Brighton & Hove Albion’s starting line-up when he returns to Madrid on Thursday night — but he will not mind too much if he is on the bench or rested.
Rather than facing Getafe in the Conference League, Chema could be saved for Sunday’s Premier League game against Brentford — an indication of the Spanish midfielder’s impact since signing from Stuttgart in September for £15.5million ($21m).
The fee already looks a bargain. Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler has thrown Chema in at the deep end — a first start in the 3-2 win at Manchester United in the Carabao Cup, a first Premier League start at home against table-toppers Arsenal (3-0), and further starts in the 2-0 defeat away to Liverpool and Saturday’s 1-0 win at Manchester City that leaves Brighton in third place, two points behind City.
“If you stop and think about it, you cannot believe it,” Chema told The Athletic after the victory at the Etihad Stadium. “But this is football. I came to the right place. Everybody is helping me and I’m really happy to be here. The coach, all the staff and especially the players have welcomed me. I’m living quite a little dream, but this is just the beginning.”
Instead of shrinking in the face of a challenging introduction to English football, Chema is thriving. The 21-year-old has produced a series of polished performances, including a goal in the 3-0 destruction of Arsenal in September that first made everyone sit up and take notice of Hurzeler’s side.
Chema Andres rises highest to score against Arsenal (Glyn Kirk/Getty Images)
“I see a natural leader, although he is very young, ” Hurzeler told reporters after another impressive display in the 5-0 thrashing of rivals Crystal Palace at the Amex Stadium last month. “I see a competitor. What surprises, or impresses me, most is how mature he is and how big his intrinsic motivation is to improve.
“Every day, he wants to improve. Every day, he reflects, tries to get better. Besides that, he is a really good person, so he really takes care of his team-mates and tries to understand the culture he is in.”
Chema’s rise has its roots nine miles north of Getafe’s Estadio Coliseum, at Real Madrid’s youth academy. In Madrid, he was regarded as a promising prospect: a tidy, positional midfielder who organised play through sharp, one-and-two-touch passing. At 6ft 3in (190cm), playing with his shirt tucked in, he was likened to World Cup winner Rodri.
Regarded for his professional demeanour, the comparisons with the former Manchester City midfielder also extended beyond the pitch. At ‘La Fabrica’, as Madrid’s academy is known, he was coached by Xabi Alonso (now Chelsea manager), Alvaro Arbeloa (Fulham head coach) and club legend Raul.
He crossed paths with Alonso more fleetingly, at a very young age, but the other two coaches had a decisive influence on him. Arbeloa pushed Chema hard and brought out the best in him. “That’s why he is the best communicator I’ve had,” Chema said in an interview with The Athletic six months ago. Raul knew how to support him in the toughest moments, maintaining his faith in him.
From his coaches, and from his three first-team matches under Carlo Ancelotti, Chema developed something central to Real Madrid’s identity: the competitive spirit, the desire to always win.
Chema Andres gets to grips with Oli McBurnie in Real Madrid’s 4-1 win against Las Palmas in January 2025 (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Chema’s promise and style of play earned him a nickname, ‘Baby Rodri’. “Those comparisons come from you guys (journalists), ” Chema told The Athletic in an interview in April. “They’re more about our physical profile because he’s still miles ahead. Hopefully, one day I can reach his level. They don’t affect me at all.”
Hurzeler is cautious about such a lofty comparison, while also acknowledging that Chema is a special young talent. “When you look at his movement and everything, then you definitely can understand it but Rodri is the best player, or one of the best players, in the world,” Hurzeler said during a press briefing before the 1-1 home draw against Leeds United in September.
“Chema brings a clear position profile as a No 6 (holding midfielder). He’s very good at understanding the game. He’s always trying to play forward. He’s good at scanning.
“When you go through the Spain academy, they put a lot of effort into rondos, ball possession and orientation before you receive the ball, and technical execution of long and short passes.
“These are all things you can see in him. The Premier League is quite different. I read an interesting interview from Anthony Gordon, who went to Barcelona. He compared the two leagues, talking about how intense and physical the Premier League is, and how La Liga is about decision-making.
“On the one side, you have this decision-making in Spain. Here, you have this physicality, this intensity, and that’s definitely a point where Chema needs to improve. He’s still a young player. He had some really good performances at Stuttgart, under Sebastian Hoeness, who is a great coach.”
Although he was only there for one season, Chema’s short spell in Germany served him well, with 25 Bundesliga appearances, three goals and an assist, plus nine outings in Stuttgart’s run to the Europa League last 16. He began to cover more ground, becoming less positional and adopting a slightly more box-to-box style, while also improving physically and gaining around four kilograms (9lb) of muscle. These changes have helped him settle into the demanding Premier League environment.
Chema was never quite an automatic first choice at Stuttgart. He was signed as support for a defensive midfield that included two pillars of Hoeness’ side: Angelo Stiller and Atakan Karazor. Stiller is one of the great midfield hopes in German football. Karazor was the club captain. On arrival, there was no slot in the team available.
By the end of the season, he had earned plenty of time on the pitch and developed into one of the league’s midfielders to watch over the coming years, but Chema had not developed fully, to the extent that his future could be properly imagined.
Chema flashed his talent in Germany. Defensively, he could be rugged in a way that Stuttgart needed him to be. Periodically, he would show some gliding class with the ball at his feet. It was easy to imagine his future in a double pivot alongside Stiller, but Brighton swooped in the final hours of the summer transfer window, after Chema trained with Stuttgart on deadline day.
A regular for Spain Under-21s, one of Chema’s greatest dreams is to make his debut for Luis de la Fuente’s senior side. With Rodri (now at Barcelona) and a host of other midfielders ahead of him, Chema knows he will need patience. That’s not expected to be a problem: everyone who has spent time with Chema agrees he is polite and calm — and, although he might not seem like it at first, also quite a joker.
Chema returns to Madrid with Brighton on Thursday as a player with the world at his feet.
