Brighton have a raft of young, exciting attackers on their books. João Pedro, the club’s 22-year-old top scorer this season with 19 goals, missed the trip to Sheffield United on Sunday with a hamstring injury, so Roberto De Zerbi called upon Simon Adingra, Facundo Buonanotte, Evan Ferguson and Ansu Fati – who are all below the age of 23. They left Bramall Lane with a 5-0 victory. Buonanotte opened the scoring in the first half before Adingra – back from setting up Ivory Coast’s winning goal in the Afcon final – added two more. Fati and Ferguson both came on as second-half subs and, with each passing week, De Zerbi seems to pull another vibrant forward from up his sleeve. However, there has been one constant in Brighton’s season: Pascal Gross. Little is being made of his terrific campaign but the 32-year-old has been Brighton’s shining light. Plucked from FC Ingolstadt for just £3m in 2017, Gross has been a regular ever since with Chris Hughton, Graham Potter and now De Zerbi relying on the Germany player to operate in a number of different roles and carry out various duties across the pitch. This is what makes Gross so effective for De Zerbi. This season alone he has played left-back, right-back, central midfield and attacking midfield. No matter the position, Gross puts in a solid shift for the team – as shown by his impressive WhoScored rating of 7.35, the best among the club’s regulars this season. Gross’s ability to dictate the tempo and pry apart opposition defences was evident on Sunday and has been the case all season. The victory at Bramall Lane was an excellent example of his ability on the ball. Gross created eight chances for teammates while completing more than 100 passes with an accuracy of over 90%. To say he controlled proceedings would be a huge understatement. Only Bruno Fernandes (72) has made more key passes than Gross (67) in the Premier League this season. The Brighton star also ranks third for assists (nine) in the league, behind Kieran Trippier and Ollie Watkins (both 10). Not only does he know when to play a defence-splitting pass, but he also helps Brighton dominate the ball. Their possession average of 62.4% is second only to Manchester City (65.7%), so it’s clear De Zerbi craves control. He has the players to do it. Gross ranks fifth for passes per game (80.4) in the league this season – below teammates Lewis Dunk (105.1) and Jan Paul van Hecke (88.9) in second and third place respectively. Rodri, with an average of 105.9 per game, is the only midfielder in the league who makes more passes than Gross. Brighton’s plan is clear. The centre-backs routinely look to Gross to both receive the ball and help stretch the play – only Dunk (4.9) is delivering more accurate long balls per game than Gross (2.9) of Brighton players this season. It’s no coincidence that Brighton are attacking through the middle of the pitch more frequently (31%) than any other Premier League team. What’s German for “conductor”? What also stands out about Gross is the desire to get stuck in. He ranks top for tackles (44) of all Seagulls players, and has made more than the likes of Boubacar Kamara (43), Cristian Romero (42) and Enzo Fernandez (41), players you would expect to rank higher in this metric. Brighton have struggled recently with the juggling act of European and domestic football. They started the campaign brightly but have wavered with the hectic schedule that comes with competing in the Europa League. The extra workload has taken its toll; they have not won back-to-back league games since September and are currently seventh in the table on 38 points, 11 behind fourth-placed Aston Villa. If they do manage to secure another European finish, Gross’s performances will be key. As one of the elder statesmen of this exciting Brighton side, Gross takes it upon himself to lead by example on the pitch. He deserves all the praise he gets. “Pascal’s exceptional abilities and positive mentality have been instrumental in our success this season,” said De Zerbi of the midfielder recently. In a historic campaign for Brighton, Gross is ensuring the Seagulls continue to soar.