Ferdi Kadioglu is heading into Brighton and Hove Albion’s European decider against Manchester United at the Amex Stadium on Sunday with an extra spring in his step.Winning the player of the season vote among Brighton supporters shows how well the versatile Turkey international has recovered from the toe injury which decimated his 2024-25 debut season. It also confirms that Kadioglu is turning out to be the best of the nine signings the club made in summer 2024 for a combined cost of nearly £200million.That was an unprecedented scale of business to reshape the squad for incoming head coach Fabian Hurzeler, after Brighton had been weakened by major sales. Of those bought as immediate first-team contenders, as opposed to for the future, Georginio Rutter’s form has dropped off in his second season since a club record £40million move from Leeds United, Matt O’Riley (£25m from Celtic) has featured sparingly, and Brajan Gruda (£25m from Mainz) has spent the past four months back in Germany, on loan to RB Leipzig.Mats Wieffer (£25m from Feyenoord) has been turned by Hurzeler from a defensive midfielder into a right-back, and though Yankuba Minteh (£30m from Newcastle United) has been richly promising in patches on the wings, Kadioglu stands out in enhancing Brighton’s reputation as shrewd operators in the marketplace.The £25million fee paid to Fenerbahce looks increasingly like money well spent for a player Jose Mourinho — who was one of his 10 managers in six seasons at the Istanbul club — praised emphatically when he left for England’s south coast.Kadioglu impressed immediately, settling straight into Hurzeler’s side and scoring twice in his first eight games. The second of those, a sweetly-struck finish when playing as a right-winger in a 2-1 defeat at title-bound Liverpool in November 2024, camouflaged a toe injury he’d sustained three days earlier in a 3-2 home loss to the same opponents in the Carabao Cup.Kadioglu initially picked up a toe injury against Liverpool in October 2024 (Glyn Kirk/Getty Images)A ligament rupture in the big toe on his left foot was diagnosed. Kadioglu needed surgery and missed the remainder of a campaign where Brighton finished eighth, missing European qualification by four points. The way he has bounced back makes his player of the season award — the headline prize of 13 across the men’s and women’s teams presented on a stage built in front of the main stand at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday — all the sweeter.“It means a lot to me,” said Kadioglu during an exclusive interview with The Athletic. “You are working really hard for the season, especially in my situation. I had a difficult last year with a stupid toe injury. So, I am really happy with my comeback and that fans appreciate what I am doing on the pitch. That makes it even nicer. That is why this award really does mean a lot to me.”