**With the 2025-26 Premier League season now under a month away, the pundits, betting sites and supercomputers are so far largely agreed that Brighton will not be challenging for the top five come May. They do though all think the Albion are likely again to finish in the top half of the table.** This in itself should not be dismissed. You only need to go back five seasons to find those same summer predictions putting us firmly in the relegation fight. And they weren’t wrong. The fact Brighton are now seen as an established top 10 side is testament to the vision, investment and management of Tony Bloom and Paul Barber. And the succession planning both on and off the pitch that has enabled the club to weather big-name departures whilst going from strength to strength. But after last season our ambitions must surely be greater. Something reflected in quotes from several players in pre-season training, referencing a top five finish as being the goal. It would have taken only three or four 2024-25 results going from draws to wins for us to have been in Champions League contention. Despite by far the worst injury totals in the Premier League. So how are things shaping up for the 2025-26 campaign? Headline transfer business both in and hopefully out looks largely done. Fabian Hurzeler said this week: “I hope there won’t be any more significant outs.” I don’t think Hürzeler would set himself up for a fall if either Carlos Baleba or Kaoru Mitoma were subject to serious interest from other clubs at this point. Baleba perhaps will be firmly in the sights of Chelsea next summer, once he is more of a “finished article”. Mitoma is, at the time of writing, still an Albion player despite rumour and counter rumour over recent weeks. There seems broad agreement that his continued presence will be key to any Champions League push. I would go as far as to argue his particular combination of abilities is irreplaceable. The winter window presents a risk though. That is not to say Albion’s forward options aren’t strong or would be devestated if Mitoma were to leave. Georginio Rutter, Danny Welbeck, Yankuba Minteh and Brajan Gruda are joined by Stefanos Tzimas, Charalampos Kostoulas and Tom Watson to offset the departure of Joao Pedro on the shuttle bus to Stamford Bridge. The Brighton defence has been significantly strengthened with the arrivals of Maxim De Cuyper, Diego Coppola and Olivier Boscagli. Plus the imminent return of Ferdi Kadioglu. Pervis Estupinian is still with the squad despite speculation he is a wantaway. Whether the addition of De Cuyper is enough to provide cover and options at left back remains to be seen. This focus on defensive additions has fuelled speculation Hurzeler is planning to switch to the fluid 3-4-3 setup he used at St Pauli, as detailed on this site last week. It is likely that with the acquisition of even more versatile players this summer, we will see formations switch at dizzying speed during matches this season in an attempt to outwit opposition coaches. Whether that enables us to break down the low blocks by bottom five sides that cost us crucial points last season is perhaps a key question. Talking of bottom five sides, having sealed the fate of Ange Postecoglu in the final game of last season by completing the double over Spurs, I would be surprised if they weren’t back in the top eight this season under Thomas Frank as the aforementioned pundits predict. In contrast to an improved Spurs, Manchester United – a lowly 16th back in May – seem set to experience more of the same decline under the same leadership. There have been few signings – save Matheus Cunha from Wolves – to raise optimism amongst the Old Trafford faithful. Let us hope we can again settle down to witness anguished frustration from Mark Goldbridge et al on the watchalong compilations following the two games against Brighton again this season. Will Manchester City return to title contention in Pep Guardiola’s penultimate season? Probably. Liverpool and Arsenal will almost certainly be in the mix. Chelsea now have a coach and a squad (half of it developed, seasoned and honed at Brighton’s Lancing training ground) to be in the mix too. Saudi-bankrolled Newcastle are expected to cement their place in the new “Rich Eight”. 2024-25 was arguably the most open season for years in both league and cup competitions. Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa qualifying for Europe. Newcastle and, erm, someone else winning the FA Cup. It may not be repeated in terms of the Big Six not taking those Premier League places and cup silverware this season. That is not to say that the fight for places from around 13 up to fifth or sixth won’t again be fierce. With Albion in the thick of it. An unprecedented eight Premier League teams will be playing additional games in Europe. Whilst not a novel experience for any bar Palace and Forest, the extra workload is a factor which might help in the Albion’s favour if margins in that mid-table group are right. Who knows if changes in key personnel at clubs like Brentford and Forest will take them out of contention for the top six? What kind of season will Fulham, Bournemouth and Everton have? We can make assumptions that Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley will make the return trip to the Championship – as has been the case in the past two seasons. I would hope at least one of the promoted teams stay up. Seeing Sunderland survive at the expense of United would really shake up the football establishment. Particularly if Simon Adingra shines for the Black Cats. The goal for Brighton this season must be to prove the Rich Eight cannot simply buy success with bottomless funds for transfers and wages. And in the case of City, an ability to swerve punishment for multiple breaches of financial fair play regulations. Pre season games against Wycombe, Stoke, Las Palmas, Southampton and Wolfsburg are unlikely to be a serious indicator of results in the Albion’s opening Premier League games. With what are usually two completely different starting XIs per half, they are much more of a chance to size up the new signings. As well as assessing who looks sharp from the ranks of returning loanees. Yasin Ayari provided a taste in Japan of what was to come from him last season. I will be looking at Malick Yalcouye to see if he is indeed the 2025-26 breakout star I predict. However, it is possible he will go on loan to Ipswich or a Bundesliga side to continue his development, according to _Inside Futbol_. Goteborg’s sporting director said when Brighton signed Yalcouye from them that he was “clearly better than Lucas Bergvall.” Something the Mali-born midfielder proved last season helping Sturm Graz to the Austrian title. For development squad players, new signings and former loanees, pre-season it is all about staking a claim for a place in the squad and starting line-up. Whilst also avoiding injury that means others make the position their own through August and September. Brighton are playing football again, and the new season will be here in just four weeks. As Mister Fabrizio Romano is fond of saying, here we go… **_Warren Morgan_** @warrenmorgan __ Share __ Tweet __ Pin it __ Share __ Share __ Share

**Brighton look likely to say _arrivederci_ to Evan Ferguson for the 2025-26 campaign at least as the Irish forward looks set to join Roma on a season long loan.** The deal is expected to include a £40 million option for the the Italian giants to make the move permanent come next summer. This will not be an obligation-to-buy, as was the case with Valentin Barco. But if Ferguson does indeed get his career back on track at Stadio Olimpico, it offers Roma the opportunity to take advantage of their role in helping him do so by presenting a striker touted as a £100 million player just two summers ago for less than half that. Brighton currently value Ferguson at around £30 million according to most reports. So they would consider £40 million a good deal right now. Whether that remains the case if he scores 30 goals in Serie A remains to be seen. You would expect there to be some sort of mechanism in the buy clause whereby the Albion can extract more from Roma if Ferguson does indeed prove a roaring hit in Italy. Similar to the way that Deniz Undav ended up costing Stuttgart the best part of £28 million when his loan was turned into a permanent deal 12 months ago. Tony Bloom has not made millions through gambling, poker tables and online casino for no reason. He nearly-always gets the better hand and secures the best deal possible. Ferguson will hopefully be no different. The ideal scenario most Albion fans would like to see is Ferguson rediscovering the form he showed when bursting onto the scene under Roberto De Zerbi. He set a series of Premier League records through 2023, including tying with Wayne Rooney for most Premier League goals scored by a teenager in a calendar year since _Sky Sports_ invented football in 1992. You do not equal someone like Rooney – or score a top flight hat-trick against Champions League qualifiers Newcastle United – without being a decent player. Ferguson was no flash in the pan like a certain other teenage striker from the Republic of Ireland who scored twice on his full top flight debut. And then did little else other than become a regular in _Shooshh_ and make a series of appearances in the gossip pages of tabloid newspapers. But there can be no doubting Ferguson has lost his way a bit on the pitch. One Premier League goal in 18 months tells half the story. The other half comes from a niggling ankle injury Ferguson had for most of the second half of the 2023-24 season before eventually undergoing surgery. He has never really looked the same since; not helped by Fabian Hurzeler barely using him through the first half of last season. Despite Brighton being so short of out-and-out centre forwards that Adam Webster came off the bench as an emergency striker at one point. Ferguson joining West Ham in January always seemed like a strange move. After 30 months of xG nightmares when Graham Potter was Albion boss, you might have thought Brighton would know that Glow Up is a manager who doesn’t get the best out of strikers. Why therefore think Ferguson was going to rediscover his scoring touch under a head coach whose teams struggle for goals, as De Zerbi highlighted by instantly improving the output of players like Solly March, Adam Lallana, Danny Welbeck and even Ferguson himself? Roma will present an entirely different challenge for Evan Ferguson. It will not be a manager with an xG millstone around their neck but rather the pressure which comes with playing for one of the biggest clubs in football-mad Italy. According to former Albion midfielder Richie Towell (remember him?!), it says a lot about the mentality of Ferguson that he is willing to take that challenge on. Speaking on the _RTÉ Soccer Podcast_ , Towell said: “If he does make the move, it probably tells you a little bit about his personality as well.” “Listen, everybody knows that footballers have egos but it’s different having an ego and having the courage then to go and be like, ‘I can go to Roma and be a success’. So it will tell a little bit about him as well.” If Ferguson does move to Stadio Olimpico, he will be playing under a new boss in the Roma hotseat. Gian Piero Gasperini has just made the move to Rome from Atalanta, where he spent nine years transforming the club from relegation candidates to regular challengers at the top of Serie A. Gasperini led Atalanta to five Champions League qualifications and two Coppa Italia finals. His crowning glory came in 2023-24, when Atalanta won the Europa League by beating Bundesliga invincibles Bayer Leverkusen. His force of personality is similar to a certain De Zerbi. Given that Ferguson enjoyed the best form of his Brighton career under the fiery Italian, that may be no bad thing should he respond to Gasperini in the same style. Gasperini also uses a formation which looks like it can suit Ferguson, playing with one central target man striker through the middle. The exact role Ferguson thrived in playing in De Zerbi’s 4-2-3-1. But one he slipped down the pecking order under Hurzeler for, behind Welbeck, Joao Pedro and Georginio Rutter. Brighton have since added Stefanos Tzimas and Charalampos Kostoulas to their attacking options. Evan Ferguson therefore looks certain to play more first team football at Roma this season. And a change in scenery under a different manager might be just what he needs. Brighton will hope so anyway. There is a good player in there somewhere. A successful loan in Serie A could net the Albion £40 million if Roma opt to turn the deal permanent. Boost his sale value to another club next summer. Or it might even convince Hurzeler to give him another chance at Brighton in 2026-27. __ Share __ Tweet __ Pin it __ Share __ Share __ Share