Have to do what you think is right for team and for club, proclaims Graham Potter

Despite enjoying an excellent debut season for Brighton and Hove Albion when he first arrived, things quickly soured between Neal Mapauy and the Seagulls. The forward only netted sixteen goals over the last two seasons although he barely played towards the end of the 2021/22 season. That combined with other issues saw the Frenchman eventually leave for Everton this summer, with the Seagulls yet to sign a replacement.

However with the transfer window now closed, Brighton ended the window without signing a replacement for Maupay although Potter revealed that he isn’t worried. The Brighton boss admitted that they did what was “right for the team” and for the club by letting Maupay leave and have done the same by not signing a replacement. Not only that, the Englishman revealed that he believes he has enough options within the squad to help make up the difference. 

“At the end of the second season (2020-21), I couldn’t walk around Brighton and Hove Albion without somebody shouting for me to get rid of Neal Maupay, so I don’t really care what people from the outside say. You have to do what you think is right for the team, for the club. Everybody has an opinion and it changes depending on whether we win or not,” Potter said, reported the Athletic.

“People’s memories are very short. It’s about the team, how you attack as a team, how you defend as a team. Over the last 15 games I think we’ve done that quite well, Neal hasn’t played so much in that time, so we’ve got some good options, some players that still haven’t played for us yet. Kaoru (Mitoma), Deniz (Undav), Julio (Enciso), Evan Ferguson, who we believe in a lot. 

“But I understand that from a supporters’ perspective sometimes a name that everybody recognises feels better for people, because it’s like that’s going to come and save us, whereas these guys are a bit unknown. But Marc Cucurella was unknown and Ben White was unknown, Dan Burn at one point wasn’t liked, Yves Bissouma was unknown, so that’s where we’re at as a football club,” he added.