Brighton are now a Premier League club and for that reason alone should be able to beat Reading and Middlesbrough to the signing of Derby’s Cyrus Christie.
Brighton manager Chris Hughton
It’s a nice place to be and one that has been a long time coming for Brighton and Hove Albion – using their Premier League status to sign players.
In the Championship there were always more high profile and bigger spending clubs. Aston Villa, Derby County, Leeds United and Newcastle United were all examples in 2016/17 alone.
Yet after ending a 34-year wait to play in the top flight and an agonising past few years which saw Brighton fail to achieve promotion via the playoffs on three occasions from 2012, that has now all changed.
Chris Hughton can finally point to their status as a reason for a player to join and in the case of Derby right-back Cyrus Christie – with the Telegraph reporting Reading and Middlesbrough are the other two sides interested in signing him – that alone should be enough.
Aston Villa’s Ross McCormack in action with Derby’s Cyrus Christie
No longer will the Seagulls have to search for shrewd transfers from abroad or look to revitalise the careers of unfashionable stars (although they still can, of course). People like Christie will choose them simply because they can offer Premier League football and the other interested parties can’t.
Money will still come into it, but when the career of a footballer is so short, so does ambition and if the Rams defender wants to be playing against the best teams in the country them the Amex Stadium will be his new home.
Derby County’s Cyrus Christie in action with Fulham’s Rohan Ince
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