Chez

If truth be told, 90% of Brighton's transfers over the last three or four years have all been players that most have never heard of. Some good, some bad. Was anyone aware of Marc Cucurella at Getafe?

a lot more space, time and chances.

two seasons, not one. 26 goals in 2013/14, 29 goals in 2012/13. Have we ever signed a player with a goal scoring record like that? Sir Ricky scored 29, but only 13 the season before that...

feels like an agent placed story to get contract extension talks moving.

He was possibly the best striker in the Dutch league the season before he came to us, having scored 55 goals in 66 games. We now can't even buy the better City/Chelsea youth team players.

its unfortunate that almost all of our youngsters haven't even been good enough to be loaned to championship side in recent years.

if he is one of the stand out players in the league...and then someone offers us that money, he is, yes.

He was one of the best players in the Championship last year, and a player that did really well against Forest too - so they got a very good look at him. I know he's a Prem player officially, but that would be one of the biggest transfers for a player that just played a season in the Championship (there are bigger fees for players in teams just relegated) - Watkins being the largest at £30m. if we are spending £15m on a youth team player without a game under his belt, so are somewhat risky, then `proven' at senior level players (with age on your side) like him are going to be a lot more. £35m though...wow.

Is B-K not going to start ahead of Valery? Blimey.

Very good post. I keep reading that our squad has been strengthened, but using your theory, we are likely to get maybe one or two into the first team (let's say one, plus Aribo), which means we haven't strengthened it greatly, especially with Forster and Broja departing. Time will tell.

and when scrutinised, his defending was all that great IMO. Ball watching is not a positive attribute. it's worth mentioning Simeu was also signed last summer and he was good enough to get a loan at League 2 Carlise.

of the sides that stayed up, we finished third bottom. Not hard to understand why many see us as potential fall guys. I'm nervous about how many of the signings will play from the off. We needed to bolster the first eleven. Aribo is one, but will there be any others that make the starting eleven?

lets hope they are not looking at the same strikers as we are.

why shouldn't Forest have bene promoted given their squad? What was wrong with their squad? What's problematic for them is that they had lots of loans and many went back. However, they have bought well, so the momentum they had last season, which saw them slaughter teams like Leicester (did we slaughter any Prem sides by the way?) may still be carried over. Our issue is the horrific form over the last 14 games. Will we be able to get out of that funk? I certainly hope so, but you would be sticking your head in the sand if you ignored it completely. In my opinion we are rivals. We are a bottom 10 side, bottom 6 last season and who knows this. I'm a pessimist. I know that. But we came 15th last season. You cant get away from that. Forest cold go down and be 3 places below us. We are rivals.

3rd kit looks alright, I suppose. The stripes under the arms are interesting, but feel a little bit out of place with this unusual dark green with the print. I struggle to see a connection between the print and the propellor blades. Its a stretch, but whatever. I like the coloured hoops on the socks. I don't think I have ever seen three kits so completely separate from each other. Not sure that matters. Variety is the spice... Still dislike the home kit. It's not the abundance of white, which I don't mind at all, its just that stacked badges look shite...and the black lines are ugly...its poorly designed, probably due to compromise required to meet a request from a clueless exec at Saints.

come on now, enough is enough.

As was pointed out to me yesterday, he has three years left on is contract, so we are in the driving seat so to speak. Next summer is the one when a new contract/player sale decision really will need to be made to avoid him leaving for buttons (which is financial suicide for a club of our size). At some point though, we are going to have to accept that a player we rate highly will be sold to balance the books.

If he wont sign a new contract, like Ings wouldn't, then I am happy the club sells now. It makes total financial sense, unless we think he will score 20 goals this year and his value goes through the roof. I recall lots saying we would be relegated if we sell Ings. We weren't relegated and that £35m enabled us to buy Armstrong, Livramento, Perraud and loan Broja. Players come and go. All that matters is who replaces the guy that departs. The next guy might be Ings mark II. Equally he might be Armstrong mark II.

You think they will be top half and us bottom? We came 15th last year, a point ahead of 16th and two ahead of 17th. 18th is relegation. Where do you think Forest will come?

We certainly don't need another Tella. I was hoping for a Henri Kamara type, pace and skill to create and score his own chances. I am guessing from the photos that he's not a powerhouse forward? I'm really looking forward to seeing him, Livia and B-K in the first team quickly proving we have signed talent for now as well as the future.

Everton have money to spend then after all.

Not seen Mara yet, but does he offer similar attributes?

I thought we'd be stuck with Djenepo, Theo etc. all summer and then possibly loan them at the end of the window, if we were lucky. If they are not good enough for us, but on significant Prem wages, they are not attractive signings to others.

even Barca's money tree has its limits.

Hope you are right. Broja ain't coming here, so I hope whoever does is better than him. Whoever it is, they will need to be good, because in general we created little last season and Aribo can only do so much to change that.