Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton is satisfied with the club’s summer recruitment ahead of the side’s second season in the Premier League.
The Seagulls have welcomed seven first-team arrivals to the Amex Stadium ahead of the 2018/19 season, and the manager is happy with the work that has been done to date.
He said, “We’ve been active and we always want to improve the squad that we have, it’s something that’s not always easy but I think the fact we brought in two very early in the summer perhaps relieved some pressure on the squad and the recruitment processes.
“We’re pleased with the business we’ve done and we’re also happy that we’ve managed to get it done early.
“We want to develop a squad that can cope with the rigours of the Premier League, we got a very good taste of it last season and felt we fared quite well – but we know the second season can be tough and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for it.”
Albion travel to the Cherry Red Records Stadium this afternoon to face AFC Wimbledon in their latest pre-season fixture, and the boss shed some light on the thinking behind the schedule that also included a 3-0 win over Crawley Town at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre yesterday.
“It was another important game and I thought we were good. It’s the type of competition we need at this stage of our pre-season.
“The ones that played against Crawley are up to 60 minutes and then we have another group playing against AFC Wimbledon.
“We then have more games in midweek – for us it’s all about testing the players. They were given a good test against Crawley and we’ve come through without any injuries as well, which you’re always pleased with.”
The latest acquisition was the signing of South African striker Percy Tau from Mamelodi Sundowns on Friday afternoon – and Hughton reflected on both the forward’s abilities and the immediate plans for the player.
“Percy is an exciting prospect and someone who will go straight out on loan - we hope that he’ll develop even further in another league.
“He’s somebody who’s used to scoring a lot of goals and he has the pace that we know is so valuable nowadays as well.
“He’s one for the future and he’s one that we knew would be going straight back out [on loan] to test his abilities. Hopefully we’ll see an even better version of him when he comes back."