This promises to be a pre-season like no other for Solly March, who is 32 years of age on Monday.As Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton & Hove Albion squad build towards a 2026-27 campaign which includes European football for the second time in the club’s history, one of the Premier League’s unluckiest players is currently unemployed.March posted pictures of himself training in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on his Instagram account this week, with a message — “Working in the heat and ready for what’s next.”He had spent time in the Middle East, in both Qatar and Kuwait, last year during his recovery from injury. Whether he sees his future back in English football or abroad is unclear, but it makes sense in the circumstances for him to keep an open mind.
As things stand, March is clubless and with a fitness point to prove to anyone prepared to give him a chance to perform again at the highest level.He was released at the end of last season, bringing an end to 15 years at Brighton, man and boy, as the club decided against triggering an option to extend the locally-raised midfielder’s contract by another 12 months.The decision was understandable, given March’s injury record in recent seasons, but the manner of his departure was a reminder that it can be a brutal game once your time is up.There was no emotional farewell in front of a packed house at the Amex Stadium for March after his 300th appearance as a second-half substitute in a season-finale 3-0 home defeat by Manchester United in May.His personal landmark — and the end of an era for the club — was overshadowed by a result that threatened to prevent Hurzeler’s side from qualifying for the UEFA Conference League by finishing eighth, until news came through that their rivals Brentford had been held to a 1-1 draw away to Liverpool.March was applauded by team-mates as Hurzeler presented him with a framed commemorative shirt in the home dressing room after the match.Two days later, the club released a message from March to the fans, who will forever remember him for the goal that clinched Brighton’s return to the top flight after a gap of 34 years in a 2-1 win against Wigan Athletic in April 2017.March scores the goal that clinches Premier League promotion for Brighton (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Dan Burn was in the Wigan back line that day. The defender, now at Newcastle United and currently on World Cup duty with England in the United States, would later become a Brighton team-mate, and was on the pitch with him at an empty Anfield in February 2021 when March suffered the first of a cruel succession of serious knee injuries. A meniscus tear sustained in that 1-0 away win against Liverpool during the pandemic lockdown ruled March out for the rest of that season.March was performing so consistently well at that stage of his conversion by Brighton’s then head coach Graham Potter from a left-winger into a left wing-back that it was plausible he would catch the eye again of England counterpart Gareth Southgate, who had previously given March the first of his three England Under-21 caps in 2015.
