Gai Assulin

Assulin made his Brighton debut on 22 February against Hull City, coming on as a substitute for Razak in the 77th minute of their 0–0 draw.

He made his first start against Cardiff City on 7 March and was substituted after 59 minutes of a 2–2 home draw.

On 19 March, after one start and three substitute appearances, Brighton exercised their option to extend Assulin's loan deal until the end of the season.

He entered the Manchester Senior Cup tie at half-time as a substitute for Denis Suárez, and scored their 2–2 equaliser in the 65th minute and he also assisted for the fourth goal in stoppage time.

Eight days later, Assulin, along with fellow City youngster Abdul Razak, joined Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion on an initial one-month loan until 19 March, but with the option to extend this by two months.

Manager Gustavo Poyet described the loan move for Assulin as a "no-brainer" and a "unique opportunity."

Gai Yigaal Assulin (גיא יגאל אסולין; born 9 April 1991) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder.

He last played for Serie D club Crema.

As a teenager, he was registered at Barcelona and Manchester City, but did not make a league appearance for either team.

He subsequently became a journeyman, spending short spells at a variety of teams mostly in Spain.

In 1999, at age seven, he moved to the Beitar Tubruk youth ranks.

In 2003, when he was just 12, Shlomo Scharf, his team coach, proposed to Assulin's parents to consider taking their young prospect to try out for FC Barcelona, where he was accepted into the youth ranks.

In August 2007, Assulin graduated to the FC Barcelona B team, and was offered a new contract, a senior contract (a contract granted only after the player turns 16) for another three years and a €20 million buy-out clause.

At the end of the 2007–08 season, Barcelona B won the league title with 83 points, and the manager, Pep Guardiola, was promoted to the job of senior team manager.

Assulin was rumored to be one of the players that Guardiola would promote to the first team.

Assulin was capped 22 times by the Israel national under-21 team and once in 2008 by the senior team, becoming their youngest player of all-time.

Assulin was born in Nahariya, Israel.

He started his career in the football school of Hapoel Haifa.

After missing most of the 2008–09 season due to injury, Assulin received an invitation to participate in pre-season matches with the Barcelona first team.

He made his debut first-team start in a competitive match of the Copa del Rey against Cultural Leonesa on 28 October 2009, before being replaced by Eric Abidal after 56 minutes.

Due to the lengthy 2009–10 season, many Barcelona players were given breaks towards the end of the year, so on 29 December 2009 Guardiola brought in Assulin and his teammates Víctor Vázquez, Thiago Alcântara and Jonathan dos Santos.

On 1 July 2010, Assulin and Barcelona parted ways by mutual consent.

They offered him a three-year contract but as they could not offer him a guaranteed first-team squad position and instead sought to develop him at Barcelona B, he refused the offer.

Assulin also had a complicated relationship with the manager of Barcelona B, Luis Enrique.

On 14 December 2010, Assulin joined Premier League club Manchester City on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

He spoke of his wishes to partner his former Barcelona teammate Yaya Touré at the club.

The early part of 2011 saw Assulin make his City Reserve squad debut against Newcastle United, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 5–1 win.

On 17 November 2011, Assulin declared that he was prepared to be loaned out from Manchester City in order to receive first-team action.

He had so far failed to receive a call-up from first-team manager Roberto Mancini but was too old to play in the inaugural under-19 NextGen series with the City Elite Development Squad, restricting him to playing occasionally for the Reserves.

Assulin said: "I need confidence and I can only get that by playing regularly. City and I both feel that I should go out on loan so I can play every week. I could stay in England or maybe join a team in the Spanish second division".

Six days later, Championship side Barnsley announced that they had agreed a loan deal until 3 January 2012, with their manager Keith Hill saying that he was impressed by his performance for Israel under-21 against England at the club's Oakwell ground that September.

After fitness issues came up, the deal collapsed.

On 9 February 2012, Assulin scored for the Manchester City Elite Development Squad in their 4–2 derby win over rivals Manchester United.

Assulin was released from Manchester City on 22 May 2012, alongside Owen Hargreaves.

On 11 July 2012, Assulin signed a one-year deal with recently relegated Racing de Santander.

Six days later, he was introduced as a player in a press conference.

On the opening game of the season on 19 August, he made his debut in a 1–0 loss against Las Palmas; he soon scored his first goal, on 15 September, in a 3–0 win over Recreativo de Huelva, giving the club their first win of the campaign.

On 5 July 2013, Assulin signed a three-year deal with Granada CF, being immediately loaned to Segunda División's Hércules CF in a season-long deal.

He appeared regularly for the Valencian outfit, which were relegated after finishing dead last.

In his second game, a goalless draw at CD Tenerife on 25 August, he was sent off for kicking out at Carlos Ruiz.