Sporting Director: Brighton don't consider future sales profit when acquiring players

Since reaching the top flight in 2017, only Chelsea have brought in more players than the Seagulls, with that extensive recruitment network helping them uncover and develop valuable talent.

The club have subsequently sold six players for fees exceeding 50 million pounds apiece during the past four seasons. However, sporting director Mike Cave insists generating major profits from player sales is not the objective when Brighton sign players.

Instead, the club's trading strategy has emerged as a central part of its operations, with the development of players capable of attracting significant offers becoming a consequence of their recruitment model rather than its primary purpose.

"I wouldn't say we ever set out thinking about how we're going to sell a player," Cave told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

"Ultimately, when we recruit players we recruit them to come and perform and develop for Brighton and Hove Albion.

"Like nearly every club in the world, players choose to leave. That's just the natural cycle of any team and any squad. When that moment comes the important thing is that any club is able to maximise the sale of that player because that is what helps to go back into the football club to reinvest and hopefully again to improve the squad in some capacity over time.

"It's a critical part of the football business but it's certainly not the intention at the outset. For us it's about developing and putting the best teams and players on the pitch to allow Brighton to be successful.

"You can never exactly plan when these departures are going to take place. The key thing is to have processes and systems in place to be able to react and that is what is in our control. Should any player leave for any reasons, what would we do in that scenario? That is our approach to it." 

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