'We can' – Brighton situation is now clear after West Ham and Ipswich Town transfer decisions

Brighton made four major transfer decisions in January and so far they have all proved to be spot on.

Midfielder Diego Gomez arrived for £12m from Inter Miami and defender Eiran Cashin signed from Derby County for around £9m.

Paraguay international Gomez has added power and guile to the midfield, while Cashin – who has yet to feature – provides much-needed cover.

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But the departures of Evan Ferguson and Julio Enciso, on loan to West Ham and Ipswich Town respectively, also seem to have worked in Brighton's favour.

Albion's squad was top-heavy and, as strange as it sounds, Hurzeler had too many attacking options.

Allowing Ferguson and Enciso to leave has put the focus firmly on the likes of Georginio Rutter, Danny Welbeck, Joao Pedro, Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh.

All five are in fine form for the Seagulls and have helped push Brighton to sixth in the Premier League and just one point off the Champions League places.

A seventh straight win in all-competitions this Saturday at fifth-placed Manchester City would bring that Champions League dream much closer.

Albion's front five have been key to their recent run. Pedro, Welbeck, Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma and Minteh have combined to score 18 of Albion's 20 goals in the last 10 matches and provided nine assists.

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said: "I just said to the guys that I felt today there was a group full of togetherness outside and especially the non-starters decided the game," said Hurzeler after the win against Fulham.

"Only as a group, we can be successful and only as a group full of togetherness we can win games because every player has his role, and every player can have his impact on our game.

"I'm really pleased we have all these options, not only between Danny, Joao and Georginio, also between Minteh and Solly [March], between Simon [Adingra] and Kaoru, so there are many offensive options and I'm happy to have them."

As it stands Enciso and Ferguson are due to return to Brighton this summer. Ferguson, 21, is contracted with the Seagulls until 2029, while Enciso’s deal runs until June 2026.

Enciso has so far made four Premier League appearances for struggling Ipswich, having missed two matches after sustaining a knee injury in the opening stages of the 1-1 draw at Aston Villa in February.

He returned to action last Saturday in the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace and played the final 20 minutes.

The Paraguay has struggled to make a serious impact at Portman Road so far but will hope to have a strong finish to the campaign as Ipswich have 10 matches to save themselves from the drop.

Ferguson is also yet to make an impact at West Ham. The Ireland international reunited with former boss Graham Potter and has so far made three appearances for the Hammers as he settle into life at the London Stadium.

He impressed from the bench on debut against Brentford and then played eight minutes in the 1-0 win at Arsenal and then 17 minutes in the 2-0 win against Leicester. Ferguson will hope more action as the Hammers welcome Newcastle in the Monday night kick-off.

“Whenever you start a job, you don’t know everything and you look under the bonnet and there are always some surprises," said Potter ahead of Newcastle. “But I must say that the surprises for me have been positive.

“It is a really big club with a massive fan base and support, but as I said before, there is a feel of a family, which I think is unique, especially at a club of this size and I have really enjoyed experiencing that.”

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