Graham Potter's 'surprised' response to Steven Gerrard and his provocative Yves Bissouma transfer claim

Graham Potter is feeling 'neutral' towards Steve Gerrard for publicly expressing his wish to sign Brighton's best player Yves Bissouma.

Aston Villa made a bid thought to be in the region of £25m last month for the Mali international which was promptly rejected by Brighton.

Gerrard then surprisingly made public his strong desire to add Bissouma to his squad and hinted he and the club will return in the summer for the 25-year-old, who has also attracted interest from Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle.

Good reads: Mark Lawrenson's intriguing alternative Premier League table

"I was not surprised or surprised," said Potter to the Brighton Indy. "I had no major feelings about it. I have a lot of respect for people who do this job because I know how hard it is.

"Everybody can do it how they see fit, inline with their club and their context. I'm quite neutral about it.

"Steven has a right to speak how he wants to speak and there is nothing for me to say about that."

Villa are six points and three places below Albion in the league but have high ambitions and it seems a transfer budget to match.

Last month they brought in Philippe Coutinho on loan from Barcelona and also signed left back Lucas Digne from Everton.

Good reads: Brighton players walking a selection tightrope

In Jacob Ramsey they have one of the brightest young midfielder talents in English football, while John McGinn remains an established and one of the more under-rated midfielders in the top flight.

Gerrard would love to add to the power and guile of Bissouma to that mix.

"It was well documented that we put in a bid for Bissouma at Brighton which was turned away, and we respected and appreciated," Gerrard said recently.

"If a move is not right then we will not become desperate and make a decisions that we do not think is right.

"If it’s not right at the time we might have to be patient in a few situations.”

This summer Bissouma will have just 12 months remaining on his contract and Brighton will have to decide whether to cash in on one of their prize assets or allow his contract to run down.

Albion however are in no rush to sell.

In the last two windows they have sold Ben White for £50m to Arsenal and Dan Burn to Newcastle for £13m.

Tony Bloom and the club will only sell when the deal is right for the club and player but they would expect to receive significantly more than £25m for Bissouma.

"We've had lots of speculation over various windows and he's still here with us," Potter said recently.

"But the club and him face a point where you've got a decision to make - if there is Champions League interest, as a club how do you compete with that?

"How do you compete financially? and how can you stop the player taking that opportunity up? It's very difficult.

"It not only hampers the relationship you have with the player and it's a challenge for that but it also damages your whole structure, we are clearly not a Champions League structured team.

"It's quite complex, but we are quite relaxed about it there is no pressure, no stress, no problem, we are enjoying Yves being with us."

Good reads: Chelsea star interests Brighton, Southampton and Norwich