Barber Pleased With Work In January Window

Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive Paul Barber believes the club can be pleased with their work in the January transfer window, ahead of Wednesday’s 11pm deadline.
 
Albion bolstered their attacking ranks with the arrival of Jurgen Locadia, and the return of Leonardo Ulloa, and Barber explained that the club had achieved all their main objectives heading into the window.
 
In an interview with Jim White live on TalkSPORT on Tuesday morning, he said, “We set out at the start of this transfer window to add to our strike force, to keep our best players, and to move on a couple (of players) that we didn’t expect to play much football in the second half of the season.
 
“Jamie Murphy went up to Rangers and Kazenga LuaLua has gone to Sunderland, so from our point of view we’ve had a decent window. Chris has now got the squad he needs for us to go all out and try to retain our place in the Premier League.
 
“From Chris’s point of view, we’ve got 25 senior players in our squad and we’ve got the young ones that Chris can call upon if he needs to, so I think we’re just about there (for this window).”
 
Ulloa’s return to the club attracted plenty of excitement from the fans, and when quizzed by White on how the loan agreement came about, the Albion CEO provided an insight into how such deals in the transfer window were completed.
 
“Well it obviously depends on the club, the player and the circumstances. In Leo’s case, I think Leicester’s preference would’ve been to sell Leo in this window and probably the player’s preference would be to have his future confirmed (for the longer term) too.
 
“But we were able to get him on loan until the end of the season, which is great for us and we think it’s great for Leo as well because he’s very popular here with the fans, and he did very well for us the last time he was here three-and-a-half years ago.
 
“We think he’s going to give us an extra bit in the strike force that we’ve been looking for. Obviously we added Jurgen Locadia as well a couple of weeks back and Chris now has a lot of attacking options going into this second half of the season.
 
“You have to start with the manager’s needs. Chris knows exactly what he wants, the scouts then do their jobs going out and looking at players and comparing them with the data they’ve got and looking at various other reports that they’ve received.
 
“Then you’re in competition with other clubs, particularly for strikers in January. Everybody is looking for that extra bit of firepower for the second half of the season, and we faced a lot of competition for Leo, but we were delighted to get the deal over the line.”
 
Barber also expressed his delight at the progress made by club’s summer arrivals, and their ongoing adjustment to English football, something that Barber pointed out can’t be underestimated, and he paid tribute to the recruitment team for their meticulous work in acquiring the right players since the club’s promotion.
 
Davy Propper has clearly caught the eye of White, who was at the training ground on the day the Dutch international signed.
 
“Yes, Davy has been terrific and in all the players that come from overseas, there is that period of adjustment to life in the Premier League and to English football. But over the last few months, he’s really settled in and done very well, as have the other players that have come from overseas.
 
“Maty Ryan has done very well, [Ezequiel] Schelotto and Jose (Izquierdo) have played more games recently and have also done well. Pascal Gross has had a terrific season with goals and assists for us in the Premier League.
 
“So our recruitment guys deserve all the credit. Working with Chris they’ve identified the players they thought that could add value to our squad in the Premier League, and so far they’ve done very well.”