𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Brighton & Hove Albion had the third-best defensive record in the Premier League last season with Jan Paul van Hecke as a pillar of the back four.

They have quickly adapted to the Dutch international’s £52million ($71m) departure to Tottenham in June by assembling a range of options in the middle to make themselves hard to score against once more, and to give head coach Fabian Hurzeler scope for rotation in the Conference League.

Canadian international Promise David — an unused substitute against Aston Villa on Sunday after a season-long loan move from Union Saint-Gilloise with an obligation to buy — has joined the strike force following Danny Welbeck’s move to Chelsea.

Attention will switch to the overall look in midfield in the rest of the summer transfer window, with Carlos Baleba about to complete a £70m switch to Manchester United, and also possibly to the right wing if Liverpool increase rejected offers of £50m and £60m for Yankuba Minteh.

The heart of the back four, meanwhile, is a refit already ticked. The extent of the choices open to Hurzeler was evident in the matchday squad for the 4-0 trouncing of Villa in Brighton’s first league fixture of the season. Luka Vuskovic, bought from Tottenham for a club-record outlay of £46m in July, impressed on his debut, albeit against dishevelled visitors, who had midfielder Ross Barkley operating as a makeshift No 9.

Vuskovic partnered long-serving skipper Lewis Dunk on his 300th Premier League appearance for the club — the first Brighton player to reach that landmark. Olivier Boscagli shifted to left-back to deputise for Ferdi Kadioglu, who was ruled out by a minor injury.

Lewis Dunk made his 300th Premier League appearance for Brighton on Sunday (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Pascal Struijk and Michael Svoboda, also signed during this summer’s window — from Leeds United and Italian side Venezia for around £18m and £7m respectively — were on the bench without being called upon by Hurzeler.

“I can’t say I expected it, but I know he is a mature guy,” said Hurzeler, speaking to reporters about Vuskovic. The 19-year-old Croatia international did not make a competitive appearance for Tottenham in any competition. “In certain moments you could see he wants to play, play, play,” added Hurzeler. “In certain moments he needs to find better solutions, but overall he has the personality and mentality to adapt to the Premier League.”

Dunk is a good tutor for Vuskovic. Central defenders at Brighton improve playing alongside the now 34-year-old. That happened with Ben White before he made a £50m move to Arsenal in July 2021, Levi Colwill as he spent the 2022-23 season on loan from Chelsea, and Van Hecke.

Dunk has survived the cull of the ‘old guard’  — Danny Welbeck, Joel Veltman, James Milner, Solly March and Adam Webster have either moved to other clubs, retired or been released.

Dunk did not start any of the pre-season friendlies, but he is still valued by Hurzeler for his playing ability and leadership qualities. “We have daily exchanges. We have spoken a lot about these (summer) changes, because changes for us mean opportunities and we can add new perspective, a new energy, new opinions,” Hurzeler told the media before Villa’s visit. “Lewis was already a great leader and he still is a great leader. He doesn’t need to change something. I’ve said to Lewis to be yourself.”

Struijk and Svoboda, both 27, captained their former clubs. A niggle limited Struijk to 45 minutes of action across four pre-season friendlies. Svoboda featured less than that, playing the last 25 minutes of a 1-0 win at home to Bologna in the final friendly, but he had extra time off, having been a non-playing part of Austria’s World Cup squad this summer.

Vuskovic made his first Premier League appearance on Sunday (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Vuskovic was partnered by Boscagli against Bologna, in the preceding 3-0 friendly win at home to Roma, and in last Thursday’s 0-0 draw away to Tromso in the play-off round first leg in the Conference League.

Boscagli’s prominence so far is surprising in the context of his lack of game time last season following a free transfer move from PSV. The domination of Van Hecke and Dunk meant that the 28-year-old Frenchman made only nine league starts in his debut campaign at the club. One of those appearances came at left-back in a 2-1 defeat at Fulham in January.

“Oli had a really good pre-season,” Hurzeler told The Athletic after the victory over Villa. “Last year wasn’t easy for him. In certain moments, he can really help us with his style of play.

“Left-back is not his favourite position, but he was sharp and he was there for his team-mates. Overall, it is a good step forward for him. There are still some things he needs to adjust and adapt to in order to become a top, top player in the Premier League, but we will help him and find ways to manage it.”

Boscagli and Vuskovic were among eight players who started both the first leg in Tromso and the Villa game. Managing the line-ups for Thursday’s second leg against Tromso at the Amex and Sunday’s league trip to Chelsea will be another balancing act for Hurzeler.

The German is well covered for rotation in the centre of defence if Brighton make it through to Friday’s Conference League group-phase draw in Monaco. That would lead to six extra matches in the schedule between October and December.