Chris Hughton
Image by: Paul Hazlewood
PUBLISHED
07:00 30th January 2015
by Paul Camillin
He's desperate to get involved as soon as possible, but we need to assess him once he's trained with the team."
Chris Hughton
Chris Hughton
Chris Hughton is still in the dark as to whether he will have new signing Beram Kayal available for the weekend trip to Blackpool, as Albion await international clearance.The club completed his signing last night, but still require international clearance - and Hughton says he will also have to assess the fitness of his new acquistion ahead of the trip to the north west.
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He said, "It's about getting Beram up to speed because he hasn't been able to train with the team yet which is a blow because it would have been a good week for that to happen.
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"We'll look at him today and see where he is. He's desperate to get involved as soon as possible, but we need to assess him once he's trained with the team.
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"He's fit at the moment, but with regard to his match sharpness we've got determine how long that will take but we do anticipate him being involved fairly quickly."
Hughton says Kayal was one of his main targets, having previously tried to sign the midfielder for Norwich City in the Premier League - and is delighted to have enticed him to Brighton.
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"It's a key signing because we haven't gone for too many players. We identified the areas we need to strengthen for the team and squad and this was one area.
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"We looked at a lot of players, which you do in every window but we didn't hone in on too many players. Beram was one of those key targets, so I'm delighted we had that opportunity.
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"He's someone I've been tracking for a while and it was very favourable for us to be able to get him at this time."
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Hughton has focused on attracting quality, as opposed to quantity, having added Greg Halford, Leon Best and Beram Kayal - all players with top-flight experience.
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He admitted he doesn't envisage much more business before the closure of the window on Monday, and has been further boosted by the return to training of Dale Stephens and Kazenga LuaLua.
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"Dale has been involved in a couple of reserve team games and has come through both of them, so that's a plus. Kazenga has trained with us now for two days and he's very close. At the moment we're formulating a fair bit of competition in the squad."
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Meanwhile Hughton says he wants a reaction from his team following last week's FA Cup match with Arsenal, and has warned his team to guard against a cup hangover and complacency, based on the home side's league position.
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"It's a different challenge this weekend and that's when you look for the character that's in the team. It's not difficult to get yourself up for a home tie in a full stadium against Arsenal - but I don't expect the attitude to be any different in what is another big game.
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"At this stage of the season, for where we are, every game is a big game for us."[h=3]ALBION V NOTTINGHAM FOREST
[/h]SATURDAY 7Th FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V BIRMINGHAM
[/h]SATURDAY 21ST FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V LEEDS
[/h]TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 7:45PM
Original article