Fabian Hurzeler says he is ‘quite relaxed’ about inevitable transfer speculation, surrounding Brighton’s players, before the summer window closes.

The Albion boss was speaking after his side’s 4-3 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, with Brighton having seen a number of key players attract interest during another busy summer.

Hurzeler believes the attention is an inevitable consequence of the club’s success and its reputation for developing young talent.

“I think we will get a lot of rumours over the next days about our players,” he said,

Fabian Hurzeler says he is ‘quite relaxed’ about inevitable transfer speculation, surrounding Brighton’s players, before the summer window closes. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

placeholder image — Fabian Hurzeler says he is ‘quite relaxed’ about inevitable transfer speculation, surrounding Brighton’s players, before the summer window closes. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“It's normal that when you're successful at the club, and Brighton have a lot of cool players and one of the best youth systems in the world, that combined with the success and the achievements of the players, you will get attention

“Therefore, I'm quite relaxed, because you know what we have here in Brighton.”

The comments come with the transfer window approaching its conclusion and speculation continuing around several members of Hurzeler’s squad.

Brighton have already seen significant changes to their squad this summer, with Carlos Baleba, Danny Welbeck and Jan Paul van Hecke among the high-profile departures.

There has also been continued speculation over the futures of players including Yankuba Minteh, Yasin Ayari and Bart Verbruggen.

Hurzeler, though, has previously stressed that he is not interested in dwelling on players who are unavailable or the noise surrounding his squad.

That approach was evident again after the Chelsea defeat, when Brighton were without Georginio Rutter, Jack Hinshelwood, Ayari, Minteh and Kaoru Mitoma.

Rather than focus on those absences, Hurzeler praised the players who stepped into the side.

“You can come up with a theory about how the game would be different, but like I said, it's not that I'm going to sit here and complain about the players we have,” he said.

“I think we played a good enough performance, a good enough game to take something away from here.

“That's credit to the boys who were on the pitch. I think we should focus on the players on the pitch, because they deserve a lot of credit for this performance.”

The Brighton boss also highlighted the club’s ability to continue producing players capable of attracting attention from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

He pointed specifically to Malick Yalcouye, who scored Brighton’s first goal at Stamford Bridge and impressed despite his side ultimately leaving west London empty-handed.

“I think he showed an impressive performance,” Hurzeler said.

"We know since pre-season what he was capable of doing.

“Of course, he's a very young player. He needs to prove his physicality, but he also, like I said, showed personality, stepping into a difficult place, stepping into a top environment.

“It's proof of what he can do.”

With Brighton continuing to develop young talent and compete in Europe this season, Hurzeler accepts that speculation over his players is unlikely to disappear.

For now, however, the German insists he is not allowing the noise to distract from what is happening on the pitch.