‘I feel good. I feel comfortable,’ reflects Yasin Ayari from the tunnel of Brighton’s Amex Stadium. ‘It was tough at first, difficult for the mind… but I’m a good player.’
The versatile midfielder, still just 22, is speaking to Daily Mail Sport on a rare matchless weekend on the south coast. He has just finished an open training session in front of around 1,000 supporters. It’s a tranquil afternoon, days after the most thrilling night of his career.
‘It was an unbelievable feeling,’ says Ayari as he reflects on that evening in Stockholm when Viktor Gyokeres fired home an 88th-minute winner against Poland to send Sweden to the World Cup. Mere months earlier, that reality seemed like a distant dream.
‘It was one of the best things I’ve experienced when it comes to football,’ Brighton’s No 26 adds. ‘I was just happy for my country, it’s always big to achieve something like this. Playing in front of a sold-out stadium, the atmosphere was top. It was huge.’
Having returned from a brief absence caused by a shoulder injury, Ayari is hitting his stride and – with 41 days to go until the World Cup and Brighton in pole position for a European spot – the excitement in his voice is palpable.
Seagulls supporters would tell you that Ayari is something of an unsung hero in a Brighton squad brimming with talent.
‘It was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced in football,’ says Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari of Sweden’s qualification for the World Cup
Ayari, still only 22, has established himself as an integral cog in Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton machine
Capable of playing across the midfield three and with a penchant for a thunderbolt from distance, Ayari has established himself as a vital cog in Fabian Hurzeler’s machine. It wasn’t so long ago that some were questioning whether he could cut it on English soil.
The son of a Tunisian father and Moroccan mother, his ascent to the top of professional football began in the shadows of Sweden’s Strawberry Arena in Solna, a small town just north of Stockholm.
While playing for local outfit Rasunda, coached by his father, he caught the eye of Swedish top-flight outfit AIK and joined the club aged eight.
It was there that he honed his craft before making his debut aged just 17. His mother worked for the club behind the scenes and his brother, Taha, still plays for them on the wing.
Forty-eight appearances, six goals and three years later and Ayari had caught the attention of clubs across the continent. Brighton came calling in January 2023, with their £6million offer a hefty fee for an inexperienced Scandinavian. But their well-renowned recruitment team trusted their judgment.
Ayari’s formative months on the south coast were spent watching on from the bench as the Seagulls secured a European spot. It was a period which the midfielder admits he needed, after waving goodbye to home comforts in Stockholm.
‘I wasn’t that angry that I wasn’t playing. I had to learn,’ he recalls. ‘Roberto De Zerbi was a fantastic coach, one of the best in the world, and I loved learning from him while he was here. The idea was for me to go on loan as soon as I came, but he wanted me to stay. I admire him as a coach.’
On loan at Coventry City and then Blackburn Rovers the following campaign, optimism turned into frustration. ‘It was s**t’, the Swede once told The Athletic of his 12 months in the second tier.
‘It was s**t’, the Swede said previously of his season in the second tier with Coventry City (pictured) and Blackburn Rovers
But within months of returning to the south coast, Ayari went from a Championship reject to a Premier League regular
He scored his maiden goal for Brighton 817 days after signing for the club – but it was worth the wait
Mark Robins took aim at Ayari for ‘walking’ at the Coventry Building Society Arena, while the sacking of Jon Dahl Tomasson a month after he joined Blackburn on loan hampered Ayari’s time in the North West. With a smirk, 5ft 8in Ayari admits that he wasn’t particularly suited to the more direct style of Tomasson’s successor, John Eustace.
‘It was tough because it was my first journey out of Sweden, and from Brighton,’ he continues. ‘You go out on loan to get some playing time and when you don’t get that, you get disappointed. It was difficult mentally more than anything.
‘I just had to get myself ready for the next season. I knew when Hurzeler came to Brighton that we could start on a new page. I trained harder than everyone before pre-season had even started. I needed to make sure I was going to make a good impression. He needed to know I was ready.’
Under Brighton’s new coach, the youngest ever in the Premier League, Ayari went from a Championship reject to a Premier League regular within a matter of weeks.
He featured in all but four of Brighton’s league fixtures last season as they narrowly missed out on a spot in the Conference League. His partnership with the highly sought-after Carlos Baleba at the base of midfield became the bedrock of Brighton’s success.
Hurzeler, he says, played a crucial part in that renaissance. The German’s ‘all-pressing, all-running’ style suits a player of Ayari’s dynamism down to a tee.
‘He’s very demanding,’ says Ayari. ‘But I like it, because it helps me to grow even more as a player and push to the next level. He just wants us to play our game. We have principles, but he trusts me.’
That sense of trust is reflected in Ayari’s performances. Five of his six goals in blue-and-white have come from long range – the latest example being a 30-yard pile-driver at Craven Cottage in late-January. Yet the Swede’s initial wait for a goal on these shores dragged on for some 817 days.
Ayari duels with Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur in the teams’ 2-2 draw last month
Five of Ayari’s six goals for Brighton have come from long range – the latest example being a 30-yard pile-driver at Craven Cottage in late-January
He ended that drought against West Ham in April 2025, letting fly from 30 yards out, his effort curling and dipping over the helpless Alphonse Areola into the top corner. As Ayari wheeled away in elation (or relief), watching on from the visiting dugout was Graham Potter. Within months, the Englishman would become the head coach of Sweden.
Having left the Hammers in turmoil, he took over the Blue and Yellow in the midst of a crisis of their own. Rooted to the bottom of their qualifying group in October with two games remaining, Sweden’s World Cup hopes lay in tatters after back-to-back losses to European minnows Kosovo.
Yet Potter has led Alexander Isak, Gyokeres and Co away from the brink of despair in the four games since. Their qualification for the World Cup was confirmed earlier this month with a 3-2 play-off victory against Poland.
Ayari, having started in each of Potter’s matches at the helm, insists there is a renewed sense of hope in the Swedish camp ahead of the tournament. A figure of ridicule during his final weeks at West Ham, Potter’s redemption arc has seen him steady what was a sinking Scandinavian ship a few months ago.
Sweden will face Netherlands, Tunisia and Japan in North America, with their campaign beginning in Mexico on June 15. Ayari, however, has his sights set firmly on the tournament’s latter stages.
‘I don’t think he has changed the tactics very much,’ he says of Potter. ‘It was just about making sure that our mindset was good and on the right path. We had to stay positive and believe in ourselves because we had a bad spell.
‘It’s huge. The confidence after that win (against Poland) is there, that we can go to the World Cup and win. My mood is good, I want to keep enjoying and going out with that feeling that it is fun to play.’
In his few months in charge of Sweden, Graham Potter has steadied what appeared to be a sinking ship
Sweden will face Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia in the group stage in North America, but Ayari is confident they can go deeper into the tournament
Before attention can turn to this summer’s jamboree across the pond, four crucial Premier League games remain in Brighton’s quest for Europe.
At one point it appeared as though the Seagulls were destined for mid-table mediocrity, as a run of one win in 13 games around the festive period saw them tumble to 14th in the table. Some supporters were even calling for Hurzeler’s head.
However, an emphatic turnaround of six wins in eight – the latest a 3-0 demolition job of European rivals Chelsea last week – has seen them climb to sixth. Fans’ faith in Hurzeler has been restored – and a Europa League spot is now a realistic expectation.
‘The table’s tight. You can win one game and go up to the Europa League and you can lose one and plummet. We need to stay consistent and we will reach our target,’ Ayari says with confidence ahead of a career-defining summer. Times aren’t so tough for the Swede any more.
