Hurzeler does not ‘fear’ losing key Brighton players

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler says he does not fear losing key players to bigger clubs in the transfer window.

Carlos Baleba, 21, is the latest Seagulls player to be linked with a move away from the club, with Manchester United reportedly hoping to sign the Cameroon midfielder.

Brighton’s recruitment model has been to buy and nurture talented young players based on data analysis, and sell for a higher fee when the time is right for the club.

In recent seasons, the sales of players like Joao Pedro, Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo – whose move to Chelsea in 2023 was a then British record transfer of £115m – have all generated substantial profit.

“No chance. I don’t feel fear,” 32-year-old Hurzeler told the Monday Night Club when asked if he worries about having to sell key members of his squad.

“I’m not afraid of anything because the only thing we can do is be the best version we can be every day, like work as hard as we can.

“All the other things we can’t influence, so we really have to focus on us.

“For sure, we can’t spend the money like the big teams but one of our biggest values is togetherness. And if you stay together, if we try to push our limits and increase the boundaries, then I’m sure we can compete with the big teams.”

The Seagulls ended their pre-season unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory over Wolfsburg on Saturday, with Maxim de Cuyper, a 24-year-old Belgian defender signed for a reported £17.5m, scoring his first goal for the club.

Baleba was absent as he continues to recover from a knee injury sustained in June, but is expected to be back for the opener against Marco Silva’s Fulham.

Brighton chairman Paul Barber said during a fan forum he hopes Baleba, who has three years left on his contract at Amex Stadium, stays “for years to come” – but could not make any promises.

Hurzeler, meanwhile, did not speak about Baleba’s situation when appearing on the Monday Night Club.

“It’s not easy, but we proved last season that we are a very competitive team,” he said about whether he feels frustrated when players are linked with rival clubs.

“Without Joao Pedro, for sure, he was an unbelievable player. But we can’t replace him with one player, but we can replace him as a team. And that’s our focus.”

Brazil forward Joao Pedro joined Chelsea for £60m on an eight-year contract this summer.

Hurzeler continued: “We as a club always find solutions and I’m sure in the future we will find solutions. That’s our model, we have to accept it.

“I think that as a club we have proved we are not only selling big players. We have had offers for other players – big offers for [Kaoru] Mitoma and other players. We proved that we are not selling every player.