With Brighton & Hove Albion having already made three signings in the transfer window so far, you would think this is a great start to improving the squad. The slight worry is that signings have dried up recently and with only a month or so till Brighton’s first Premier League game, there are still plenty of areas Chris Hughton needs to strengthen. I think Brighton need to make signings in four positions and below I will talk about them.
Goalkeeper:
The Seagulls have only three senior keepers currently in Matthew Ryan, Nikki Maenpaa and Christian Walton. The only thing is that The Albion want to loan Walton out to get him more first team experience with him being a bright prospect for the club. This would leave Brighton with two goalkeepers, so another keeper would surely be needed for cover.
Left Back:
This is another area Brighton are short in with Gaetan Bong as the only senior left-back. This is because last season’s other left-back, loanee Sebastian Pocognoli went back to parent club West Bromwich Albion and was released, but Brighton then decided not to sign the Belgian on a permanent deal. The Albion would at least need one more left-back because Bong has had his injury problems last season which meant that he could only make 26 appearances out of a possible 46 and if this was to happen again, Brighton have no one else to cover him.
Winger:
Brighton have a lot of senior wingers in their squad so you may think why would I say we need another one. If you look at the moment, The Seagulls have five wingers in Anthony Knockaert, Solly March, Jamie Murphy, Jiri Skalak and Kazenga Lua Lua. In my opinion, we only have three senior wingers as I think two of the wingers will be surplus to requirements at the club. This means The Albion would need to strengthen in this area as if one of the three wingers was to get injured then we would only have two wingers left and with Hughton playing a 4-4-2 system this would mean Brighton would have no cover on the bench.
Striker:
The Seagulls currently have three strikers in the squad in Glenn Murray, Tomer Hemed and Sam Baldock and with Brighton playing a 4-4-2 formation, this means that The Seagulls would only have one striker on the bench. The problem with three strikers is that if one of them was to get injured then you only have two strikers and no cover on the bench. The Albion need to invest in a pacey striker who has a good eye for goal, as Brighton usually play a target man and a pacey striker together with this being Murray or Hemed as the target man and Baldock as the pacey striker. The problem is that Baldock was hampered by injury last season and it meant Hemed and Murray started up top which creates the problem that you have two target men playing up top and because the two of them do not possess the pace that Baldock has, The Seagulls had to adapt their style of play and play more long balls and crosses, rather than the usual possession based football they prefer.
Whether Chris Hughton manages to strengthen in these positions or not, one thing is for certain like pretty much all his signings so far, he will make sure he gets the right players for the club.
