Bruising spell for Brighton but still reasons to be positive

It has been a bruising couple of weeks for Brighton. The Albion were unlucky to come away from Liverpool with something for their efforts, played out a frustrating and painfully dull draw at Brentford, were well beaten at the Amex by Arsenal and then needed a comical own goal to take a point at Burnley.

After all that, many of us will have slumped in our chairs and let out a deep sigh with Brighton sitting in a season-lowest position of 10th.

But other clubs are also starting to falter, from Liverpool and the Gunners in the title race to the Albion’s more immediate rivals for a European spot like West Ham United and Manchester United.

Brighton remain only six points behind Newcastle United in sixth. If the Premier League is awarded another Champions League spot, a seventh placed finish would see us back in the Europa League. Eighth would mean Europa Conference football.

With six games to play and a maximum of 18 points up for grabs, the Albion need to win every match to reach last season’s points total of 62 from the current position of 44.

More realistically, 51 points was enough for ninth place the season before. A seventh or eighth place finish on perhaps 53 points is not too much of a stretch.

Three wins and a draw from games against Manchester City, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester United is ambitious.

It would require a turnaround in form (and arguably both morale and mindset). But even a third consecutive top 10 finish would still be a huge achievement in a campaign which included Europa League football for the first time and a terrible run of injuries.

And then, to quote a favourite phrase from a favourite TV character, “What’s next?” Leaving aside the potential departure of Roberto De Zerbi to Bayern Munich, which players might feature for the Albion next season?

Thanks to the sterling efforts of the admirable @BrightonBubble on Twitter, there is an extensive list of players linked with potential moves to the Amex by various media outlets over the past month. All the usual caveats apply and make of them what you will:

• Juan Miranda, Real Betis left back, 24 [@TuttoMercatoWeb]

• Ross Barkley, Luton Town midfielder, 30 [@alex_crook]

• Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Leicester City midfielder, 25 [@alex_crook]

• Yellu Santiago, Getafe midfielder, 19 [@caughtoffside]

• Kevin Mier, Cruz Azul goalkeeper, 23 [@NoticiasRCN]

• Julian Ryerson, Dortmund right back, 26 [@berger_pj via @SkySportDE]

• Manuel Locatelli, Juventus midfielder, 26 [@footballitalia / @Gazzetta_it]

• Philip Otele, CFR Cluj winger, 24 [@NizaarKinsella]

• Agustín Ruberto, River Plate striker, 18 [@eldiariocomar]

• Matt O’Riley, Celtic midfielder, 23 [@GiveMeSport]

• Wesley França, Flamengo full back, 20 [@pimentelmidia]

• Jota Silva, Vitoria Guimaraes forward, 24 [@GraemeBailey]

• Diego Gomez, Inter Miami midfielder, 21 [@Angel_Elian__ via @RobertoRojas97]

• Reiss Nelson, Arsenal winger, 24 [@alex_crook]

• Maximilian Beier, Hoffenheim striker, 21 [@SPORTBILD]

• Rav van den Berg, Middlesbrough defender, 19 [@FootballLeagueW]

With two months still to go until the summer transfer window opens, there are no doubt other names on the list of our recruitment team that we have no inkling of as yet.

Turning to the equally valuable @BHALoanWatch, our list of loan stars is a long one. Will any of these return to feature in next season’s squad?

Goalkeepers: Carl Rushworth (Swansea), James Beadle (Sheffield Wednesday).

Defenders: Ed Turns (Crewe Alexandra), Imari Samuels (Fleetwood Town).

Midfielders: Yasin Ayari (Blackburn Rovers), Andrew Moran (Blackburn Rovers), Marc Leonard (Northampton), Jensen Weir (Port Vale), Jack Hinchy (Shrewsbury Town), Mahmoud Dahoud (VFB Stuttgart), Kacper Kozlowski (Vitesse), Steven Alzate (Standard Liege).

Forwards: Jeremy Sarmiento (Ipswich Town), Deniz Undav (VFB Stuttgart), Adrian Mazilu (Vitesse), Abdallah Sima (Rangers).

I would hazard a guess that one or two of that impressive group might be in the first team squad for 2024-25. Mazilu recently went viral with a spectacular late winner as Romania 19s beat Germany 3-2 in European Under 19 Championships qualifying.

Roberto De Zerbi meanwhile said he expected Undav to be back at Brighton next season following a spell at Stuttgart so successful as to have earned him an international debut for Germany.

Brighton have of course already signed a striker for next season. Young Ibrahim Osman notched up another goal for FC Nordsjælland the same weekend the Seagulls were beaten by Arsenal, so there is already a wide range of forward options on the books.

Anyone who spends their Friday evenings on the Albion YouTube channel will have seen some great team and individual displays from the Under 21s this season. Many of those players have already featured in the first team in cup games or from the bench.

Defender Odeluga Offiah, midfielders Benicio Baker-Boatey, Samy Chouchane, Cameron Peupion, forwards Joshua Duffus, Louis Flower and Mark O’Mahony are just some of the players who could make the step up, possibly after a loan spell. Peupion is already listed in both first team and U21 squads on the Albion app.

Then there is the prospect of Brighton welcoming back Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood from long-term injury after the summer break.

Whether we qualify for Europe or not, we have record profits behind us and a group of exciting young players full of potential. There is little doubt that next season’s squad will be brimming with talent and greater experience to hopefully challenge again for a top seven finish.

Warren Morgan @WarrenBHAFC