Should Brighton complete their promotion attempt under Chris Hughton, they will undoubtedly need to bolster their squad ahead of a tough Premier League campaign next season.
Usually, at this point, such teams should move heaven and earth to attract quality attack-minded players to their club. The Premier League can be exciting; it’s about goals and those teams have shown ambition such as Bournemouth, Watford and in the past, Newcastle, West Ham et al have had a similar thing in common. They have attacked.
Hughton has previously been in this sphere. When taking Newcastle up in 2010, he stuck to his ambitious style of play. At Newcastle, his 6 against Aston Villa, 5 against Sunderland and 5 against West Ham was a reflection of the free-flowing, stylish way he encouraged his side to play.
The thing about Chris Hughton’s Brighton is that they already possess tons of attacking quality – just like Bournemouth did when they were promoted. So the trick could be to spend the time and money afforded him in the summer on attracting quality defenders to the club. Let us have a look at two quality defenders to bolster the Brighton defence.
Charlie Taylor
The Leeds United full-back has been attracting a lot of interest at present and his position is one that Brighton could definitely improve upon when going up.
Should Leeds fail to follow Brighton into the Premier League via the play-offs then Taylor, even at his age, may think twice about staying at Elland Road. The trouble will be attracting a top class team to take a risk on him. That’s where Brighton could come in. A move to the Amex would, in this instance be a step up, yet there’s no way Brighton could afford to turn down the chance to sign the young man. This looks like a win-win.
Donald Love
Finally this season, it looks as though Sunderland’s time in the Premier League is coming to an end. This doesn’t mean that everyone in their squad is completely useless at that level.
Donald Love is one player who clearly has potential. The Black Cats’ Scotland U-21 international right-back has done well in the time he has been afforded (just 11 league appearance so far) and can perhaps count himself unlucky. In a desperate relegation battle, it is hard for coaches like David Moyes to take a chance on young players and so Love may not be getting the time that he needs to improve himself.
He’ll naturally be a better player next season and, in an attack-minded side like Brighton and could find his development escalating quicker down on the south coast.
