Premier League boss fumes as £25m signing limps out of debut after 'ridiculous' tackle

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was furious as a ‘ridiculous foul’ caused summer signing Matt O’Riley to limp out of his debut for the club after just nine minutes on Tuesday night.

O’Riley only arrived from Celtic in a £25m move on Monday and was swiftly handed his debut in the Carabao Cup clash with Crawley Town.

His first outing in a Seagulls shirt didn’t last long after Crawley captain Jay Williams put in a heavy challenge on the Denmark international and O’Riley could not continue.

Williams was not punished for the challenge, which Hurzeler felt was a red card offence and the lack of action from the referee caused chaos in the game.

‘I think after this foul it was like the players could tackle like they want because he didn’t get a yellow card,’ said the Seagulls boss in his post-match press conference.

‘For me it is a clear red card. You can’t tackle like this but you can play hard and you can be ruthless.

‘In the end I hope Matt is not so badly injured like it looks but we have to wait for a scan of his ankle. He said to me he could not put any weight on his ankle.

‘I think he is a player who will help us and that’s why we hope that he is not so badly injured. We will have a look how it goes on.’

Brighton & Hove Albion v Crawley Town - Carabao Cup Second Round — Fabian Hurzeler was furious with the challenge on his new signing (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Ridiculous foul. It has nothing to do with football. This situation, it changed the game as afterwards it was emotional. I hope it is not so bad. I think it is easy to apologise, in the end we can’t fix the player.

‘It’s tough to deal with it but it’s part of football. It shouldn’t be, fouls like this. This is not the way we should behave on the pitch.’