Pascal Groß wins first Premier League Player of the Month award after Brighton surge

Pascal Groß has won the Premier League’s September 2026 Player of the Month award, the league announced on 2 October. The Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder scored twice and made three assists during the month, helping his club to wins over Coventry City and Arsenal. It is the 35-year-old’s first win of the award and the first for a Brighton player.

The Premier League said five of Groß’s six goal involvements this season came in September. His total of six was joint highest in the division when the award was announced. The monthly prize recognises a short run of form, but it also brings attention to a player whose Brighton career stretches back to the club’s first Premier League season.

How Groß earned the September award

Groß contributed a goal and two assists in Brighton’s 5-0 victory away at Coventry City. In its account of that match, the Premier League said he set up the opening goal, scored a penalty and assisted Yasin Ayari for the final goal. Alan Shearer subsequently included Groß in his Premier League Team of the Week for that round of matches.

Against Arsenal, Groß scored the opening goal and then set up Chema Andrés as Brighton won 3-0, according to the league’s award announcement. Those two matches account for the five September goal involvements cited by the league: two goals and three assists. The award was decided by combining public votes cast through the EA SPORTS website with votes from a panel of football experts. The announcement did not give a breakdown of the voting.

What Groß has contributed across two Brighton spells

Brighton first signed Groß from Ingolstadt in 2017, the year the club entered the Premier League. BBC Sport put the reported fee at £3m. He moved to Borussia Dortmund, his boyhood club, in 2024 and returned to Brighton in January 2026. BBC Sport reported fees of £8m for the Dortmund move and about £1.7m for his return. Those reported figures do not amount to a full accounting of the transfers or establish an all-time ranking for value.

BBC Sport reported that Groß had been involved in 85 Premier League goals for Brighton across his two spells. It listed 34 goals and 51 assists in 252 league appearances at the time of its report. Those totals place his September contributions within a much longer record of scoring and creating chances for the club, with a spell outside England between his two Brighton stints.

The BBC also reported that Groß had created 562 Premier League chances since he first joined Brighton. Only Bruno Fernandes, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah had created more in that period, according to its figures, despite Groß spending about 18 months away from the competition. It said his 483 successful crosses, including corners, were the most by any player over the same period.

His route back to Brighton followed 66 appearances for Dortmund, where BBC Sport said he scored once and supplied 17 assists. The move to Germany had appeared to end his Brighton spell. His return in January has given him another chance to add to a league record that began with Brighton’s first campaign in the top flight.

How Brighton’s September was recognised

Groß was one of three Brighton figures to collect a Premier League monthly award for September. The league named Fabian Hürzeler Manager of the Month and gave Lewis Dunk Goal of the Month. It said this was only the fifth time one club had won all three awards in the same month. That wider recognition provides context for Brighton’s results without assigning them to one player alone.

BBC Radio Sussex commentator Johnny Cantor told BBC Sport that Groß’s influence extends to training and the dressing room, as well as his technical ability and delivery. Former England midfielder Danny Murphy, speaking to the BBC, described Groß as an intelligent and versatile player who can operate in several positions. These are assessments from observers, alongside the league’s recorded goals and assists.

Murphy also disputed the suggestion that Groß had gone unnoticed, saying: ‘Gross is not under the radar, because people know how good he is.’ Brighton supporter Maz Mirzadeh offered a different view to BBC Sport, calling him underappreciated and praising his football intelligence and work rate. The difference is one of opinion; the confirmed development is Groß’s first Player of the Month award after his September performances.