New Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Jens Scheuer has acknowledged the fact that squad numbers are low and that new players will be needed to bolster his group.
The Seagulls have struggled to fill their bench at times this season when a couple of players have been unavailable. Brighton & Hove Albion have a squad of just 18 experienced professionals while the club called upon some of their academy graduates to bolster their ranks when required in the first half of the season.
When speaking in a Brighton & Hove Albion press conference, new boss Scheuer acknowledged that fact that the squad is too small whilst commenting that injury and illness have reduced the numbers further going into 2023.
“We have a really talented team but the situation that we have to handle right now is around injured players, we have a lot of injured players and players who are not on the pitch because of illness,” Scheuer said. “There were only eight players practising today.
“This is a problem, the squad is a little bit small. We know this and have had discussions about it so we have agreed that we need to keep an eye on the transfer window.
“We will only do deals which make sense. For me, it would be stupid to only look to sign players for half a season or to help in the short term. We want to create a team to take us onto the next step, who can grow together with me as their coach.”
Discussing recruitment further, Scheuer said that assessing potential transfer options will take time and that caution will be expressed throughout the process.
“We have to be careful signing new players because we have to choose well, we need to be intelligent. If you bring the wrong players in, it could become a problem so we will take our time with the selection process.
“We need to choose players who are good for Brighton, not only for their quality but also mentality because we want to build the right culture. It is important that the mentality and behaviour is right for the club.”
Scheuer will take charge of Brighton & Hove Albion for the first time when they travel to The King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on 15 January 2023.