EXCLUSIVE: Technical director David Weir explains how Brighton made £100m in transfers and still progressed

In 2017, the Seagulls ended their Championship promotion season without making a single penny from players sales.

They may have finally advanced into the English top-flight, but aside from the eventual extra commercial cash and TV revenue the Premier League brings, the squad was attracting no interest.

Five years later, Brighton have just ended the summer transfer window with the second highest income in the League.

Around £103 million has been generated from selling Cucurella, Yves Bissouma, Neal Maupay, Leo Ostigard and Matt Clarke, making the Albion the league’s newest, ‘selling club’.

The previous year they also sold Ben White to Arsenal for £50m and Dan Burn to Newcastle for £13m

“There comes a time where part of the model is you’ve got to sell players,” said David Weir, Brighton’s technical director, who was recently promoted to the role following Dan Ashworth’s departure to Newcastle.

“It’s not something you like and we don’t do it if it doesn’t work for us but it’s a compliment when a club is interested in your players.

“Most of the time, we don’t buy Premier League ready players. We buy younger players to try and develop them with a specific coach and structure.

"At some stage, like this present moment, when we’ve got a player that wants to play in the Champions League or an elite club where we’re not quite there yet, it’s a good thing to sell.

“It also makes us attractive to players coming in because they can see there’s a path way into our team and then beyond.

"We’re raising money as well, but when the players want to be successful, it’s part of the process.”

Maupay, Bissouma and Cucurella cost Brighton around £45 million. At their best, the trio helped deliver some of the finest football the Amex has ever seen as they secured a record ninth place finish last term – and then eventually landed them upward of £50 million worth of profit.

The key of course is succession planing. When White left, the ever-reliable Joel Veltman – who arrived for £900,000 – slotted in seamlessly. Moises Caicedo joined for £4.5m and cushioned the blow of Bissouma’s exit, while £7m Deniz Undav could be an able successor to Maupay – while £8m Paraguay teenager Julio Enciso waits in the wings.

Even the deadline day arrival Billy Gilmour for £9m could prove another piece of shrewd business.

When asked, when will Brighton become an elite club themselves rather than a gateway for players, Weir said, “That’s where we want to be, and I think we’re getting there.

"We finished in the top ten last season which was a club goal, and we want to stay there. We also want to be a top four WSL club but there’s steps along the way to doing that.

“It doesn’t happen overnight and you can see how far the club has come over a period of time in terms of development and infrastructure.

"It’s getting harder because our teams getting better, it’s hard to improve what’s already good. But it’s an on-going process.”

On August 31, Brighton officially opened a training hub solely dedicated to their women’s players. As the most expensive of it’s kind in the country, Tony Bloom, the club’s owner, has provided a state-of-the-art facility.

“Not many clubs have this sort of facility for women’s football,” said Weir. “So, I think we’re ahead of the game in that regard.

“These kinds of investments are fundamental, and I think the owner realises that. He’s built and infrastructure, environment and culture that is conducive to success and this building block for the women is proof.

"He invests a lot of money into this club, so we’ve got to try and help him fund that.”

The England national team won the women’s Euros for the first time ever over the summer. Brighton hosted three of the competitions matches at the Amex which included England’s quarter-final against Spain.

The clubs’ women’s first team play most of the home games at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium. However, with the support for the women at its highest point ever in England, their first two home matches of the new season will be held at the Amex.

“In an ideal world we’d have a purpose-built stadium for the women’s team,” said Weir ahead of the start of the WSL next this week.

“But obviously the Amex is a big stadium to full and there are costs associated with that. At the moment, the women’s first team doesn’t generate the following but that has definitely been helped by the Euros.

“By hosting the games at Euro 2022, we’ve done really well to commit and invest in the women’s game.

"Brighton do a lot of great things to support them and we need to keep doing that. Keep supporting and keep pushing.

“It’s going to take step-by-step to get where we want the game to be because I don’t think it happens overnight.

"But these games at the Amex gives them an opportunity to come out in numbers and see what that support is like.”