Charalampos Kostoulas: Why Brighton are paying £34m and beating Real Madrid & Man Utd to Olympiacos' teenage 'Babistuta'

Football was always in Kostoulas' blood. His father, Athanasios, also played for Olympiacos as a defender, and racked up over 300 top-flight appearances across his 21-year career, while also winning two caps for the Greece national team.

Charalampos and his older brother, Konstantinos, both aimed to follow in their father's footsteps, and they started their journey at AS Agia Anna, a mountain village club located in central Greece. Charalampos eventually got his big chance to shine at the age of 12, when he was invited to play at a tournament in Dusseldorf, Germany for PAOK Athens.

The talented forward seized the moment with both hands, scoring 10 goals, which prompted PAOK to try and draft him into their youth ranks. Olympiacos hijacked the move, though, swooping in to sign Charalampos and Konstantinos in order to keep the sons of one of their former players out of the clutches of their arch-rivals.

That decision soon paid off for Olympiacos, as Charalampos fired the club's Under-15s to the league title in 2021-22 with 16 goals in 15 appearances, and he was rewarded with his first professional contract. He registered another 12 goal involvements as Olympiacos became Greek Super League U17 champions the following season, while also getting the chance to make his debut for the club's B team at just 15 years, seven months, and 25 days old.

After becoming the youngest player to play professionally in Olympiacos' entire history, Kostoulas became a regular for the reserves, which gave him the opportunity to make his mark in the UEFA Youth League. Incredibly, Olympiacos ended up clinching the 2023-24 trophy, becoming the first Greek side to ever win a UEFA club competition, one month before the senior team's triumph in the Conference League.

Kostoulas played a vital role, too, scoring five goals in eight games, including one in their 3-1 upset victory over Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Olympiacos head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar was impressed, and promoted Kostoulas to the first team ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, while Konstantinos was sent out on loan to Rio Ave.

Konstantinos was deemed not to be ready for the step up yet, but Mendilibar felt his younger brother could add depth to Olympiacos' attack as they sought to build on their historic European success. Kostoulas wasn't made to wait for his debut either, as he started the club's opening Greek Super League game of the season against Volos.

There was no instant impact, though. Kostoulas was subbed at half-time in that 2-0 victory, and didn't make the squad in three of Olympiacos' next four league games as it took time for him to adjust to the intensity of top-flight football.

But on matchday 11, everything clicked. Kostoulas headed in the opening goal in a huge 3-2 win at PAOK, making history as the youngest player to ever score a league goal for Olympiacos at 17 years, five months, and 11 days. That dream moment reignited the fire in Kostoulas, who has since established himself as a key member of Mendilibar's squad.

Olympiacos failed in their bid to take home an unprecedented treble in 2024-25, but they did secure a league and cup double to keep spirits high in the city of Piraeus for the club's 100th anniversary. Veteran striker Ayoub El Kaabi earned most of the plaudits - he wound up with 34 goals and assists in all competitions - but Kostoulas provided the 31-year-old with invaluable support in the final third.

Kostoulas, who is also now a Greece U21 international, racked up seven goals in 22 Greek Super League games, including the clincher against Panathinaikos in their first play-off win, and was one of the standout players in Olympiacos' Europa League victories over Porto and Qarabag earlier in the campaign. He shared the limelight with academy graduate Christos Mouzakitis, but it feels like Kostoulas has a higher ceiling than his deep-lying team-mate given his capacity to be a match-winner.

That was the case even on the occasions Kostoulas had to make do with a substitute role. He scored both goals from the bench to give Olympiacos a 2-1 home win over Aris Saloniki, including a dramatic 96th-minute winner, which earned him special praise from Mendilibar.

"Kostoulas didn’t just score – he created opportunities and drove the game forward," said the Olympiacos boss. "He was on target, something we generally lacked."

Standing at just over six foot tall, Kostoulas is a physically intimidating forward with a frightening turn of pace. Only two players in the Greek Super League have been clocked at a higher speed than Kostoulas' top mark of 36kmph, and he's almost unstoppable in full flow.

The 18-year-old also possesses a natural eye for goal, which has seen him dubbed 'Babistuta' - a nod to former Argentina striker Gabriel Batistuta. He's a clinical finisher who can score with both feet, but is also a surprisingly nimble link-man who thrives with his back to goal.

Kostoulas' passing is crisp and incisive, while off the ball he is always looking to get into little pockets of space behind enemy lines. Olympiacos could always go long with Kostoulas in the team, too, because he very rarely loses any aerial duels and has knack for timing runs into the box.

Kostoulas is already a very complete footballer, which is incredible considering his age. There is still plenty of room for improvement, though, especially from a decision-making standpoint.

He will sometimes rush his execution or pick the wrong option, and can be guilty of holding onto the ball for too long. Composure will come as he matures, but Kostoulas will have to learn some self-restraint, especially if he does eventually get a move to an elite club.

In future, Brighton will likely want him closer to the goal; Kostoulas tends to drop deep to get on the ball and as a consequence can be left playing catch-up when the team springs forward. The goals will flow more readily for Kostoulas if he is more patient in Brighton's build-up play and explodes into life at the right moment, instead of always trying to force the issue.

Kostoulas' nickname 'Babistuta' naturally led to the Batistuta comparison, but he is not a pure centre-forward like the former Roma and Fiorentina star. Brighton's newest star is more of an all-rounder, a player who can operate in multiple positions across the frontline and relishes duels.

In that sense, he's cut from the same cloth as Roberto Firmino, who became a cult figure at Liverpool between 2015 and 2023. Firmino used to wreak havoc in the hole for the Reds, twisting defenders in knots with his close control before striking the final blow, whether in the form of a pinpoint shot or a killer pass.

Kostoulas is not yet as consistently effective, but he also excels in tight spaces and has impressive instincts in and around the box. He's also more of a team player than a ruthless goal-scorer, and will run himself into the ground for the collective cause.

Firmino was exactly the same for Liverpool, which is why he was so loved. Kostoulas forged a similar reputation at Olympiacos, and it's easy to imagine him transferring it to the Premier League with the Seagulls.

Europe's very best were keeping tabs on Kostoulas during his breakout campaign, with Real Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester United and Juventus all said to have watched him closely as the season went on. However, rather than jump to the first big club who called, he has made a sensible decision to join Brighton, where he will link up with another budding Greek striker in Stefanos Tzimas, the 19-year-old sensation who has been nurtured by Miroslav Klose in Germany.

Whether the Seagulls choose to integrate him immediately or send him out on loan first remains to be seen, but one way or another, it seems like he will be playing Premier League football in the not-too-distant future.