Sussex

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

Fulham ended last season with five defeats in their final seven matches but have failed to strengthen their squad over the summer, prompting concern from head coach Marco Silva.

Speaking ahead of their opening game away to Brighton, Silva said he was surprised by how "passive" the club had been, adding "I knew what I wanted and the plan was there but it hasn't happened – right now we need to reinforce".

The Whites are in talks with Shakhtar Donetsk for Brazilian winger Kevin, who could eventually cost a club-record fee of £40m, but to date they have brought in just one first-team player, fewer than any other Premier League club. Their solitary signing so far, 34-year-old goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte, joined for approximately £400,000, meaning the west London side also rank last for total spending.

Silva admitted on Thursday "in some positions we are very short in numbers" but he can at least take heart from results in pre-season. Fulham have won five of their six friendly games, including last weekend's 1-0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt courtesy of a Raul Jimenez free-kick.

Brighton's outlay of approximately £68m is the seventh lowest by a top-flight side this summer, but it is worth noting they spent a league-high £196.6m last summer plus a further £40.8m in January.

One of the key questions for Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler is how to replace forward Joao Pedro following the Brazilian's £55m move to Chelsea.

The Seagulls have coped with the loss of star players before. When Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Alexis Mac Allister were sold, the profits were reinvested in emerging stars and that's the strategy they will again follow this season.

Two of the latest acquisitions are Greek forwards Charalampos Kostoulas, 18, and Stefanos Tzimas, 19.

Kostoulas arrived this summer for almost £30m after just 35 appearances and seven goals for Olympiakos. Tzimas, meanwhile, was signed earlier this year for over £20m but allowed to remain with Nuremberg for the remainder of the season. He ended the campaign with 12 goals in 24 appearances for the German second-tier club.

Both players are inexperienced and expected to be eased into action gradually but, given Brighton's track record, are likely to make their mark before too long.

Image source, Getty Images

We have looked into the age profile of Bournemouth's players for the 2025-26 season and recorded what percentage of minutes each of them played last campaign.

For the purpose of this exercise, we have deemed those under 24 as youth, between 24 and 30 as in their peak years and anyone over 30 to be a veteran.

The green represents new signings, who naturally did not play, red are those that have since left the club and yellow are all those that remain.

Brighton have used their summer to bring in youthful options.

If we consider the data offer below, we can see the green dots represent new signings and they skew heavily towards the 'youth' section of the chart.

Fabian Hurzeler has also so far kept three of the players who clocked the most minutes last season on Kaoru Mitoma, Carlos Baleba, Jean Paul van Hecke and Bart Verbruggen.

The sale of Pervis Estupinan to AC Milan saw a player leave who balanced plenty of minutes last season with a 'peak' age.

Saffie Yates
BBC Sport journalist

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Fulham at Amex Stadium (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Hurzeler feels "ready" for the new season: "The main thing is self-belief, focusing on our ability and quality."

• He is "very happy" with Brighton's transfer window "Most players are fit. If the transfer window [were to] close tomorrow, I would be happy."

• On new signing 18-year-old Charalampos Kostoulas: "We need to be patient. Just because we spent £30 million doesn't mean he'll start immediately."

• The Greek striker "needs time to adapt to the intensity" so may not be involved against Fulham.

• On the future of in-demand midfielder Carlos Baleba: "I'm very, very confident he will be a Brighton player. He seems to be in a good place and enjoying it with his team-mates. He's an option to start."

• He praised 39-year-old midfielder James Milner, who extended his stay at Brighton in the summer : "It's incredible how hard he works, how ready he seems to be, how ambitious he is. You can still feel his desire and hunger to achieve something."

• On injuries in his squad: "It's a big change from last season. Only Adam Webster and Solly March are long-term injuries. All other players are available."

• He is not concerned about how to fill in for Joao Pedro, who scored 30 goals in 70 games for Brighton before joining Chelsea in the summer: "We can't replace him one to one, but we can replace him as a group. We have many players who can score goals."

• On team strategy: "We can't challenge other teams with financial resources, but we can challenge them with togetherness, work ethic, playing intensely, and being fearless."

• On whether it feels different going into his second season: "Everything feels a bit more familiar, but the Premier League is still the best league in the world with many challenges we have to face."

• He says Fulham will be "a big challenge" for Brighton: "They are a very mature team. Their biggest strength is their compactness. They do everything together and are very well-organised."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Sport's TV and radio commentators have picked three Brighton players who will be worth watching out for in the next few months.

Diego Coppola

Age: 21 Position: Centre-back Country: Italy

James Fielden: I saw Coppola play twice at the European Under-21 Championship in the summer, and it was against Spain and Germany, so good games to judge him against top teams.

Brighton had clearly done their homework previous to the Euros, with the deal announced mid-competition, and you can see why they're ready to drop him into their evolving backline.

Strong and commanding in the middle, Coppola was also keen to play out over short and long distances, and that, along with other metrics, clearly impressed the Seagulls.

Harry Howell

Age: 17 Position: Midfield Country: England

Guy Mowbray: I must confess to never having seen him play... but he's a name that's been mentioned to me by quite a few people this summer - some of whom I consider to be VERY good judges!

As was once said about another teenager, external, who made his mark on the Premier League - "remember the name".

Jonathan Pearce: Brighton fans will be praying that Carlos Baleba stays put and that Yankuba Minteh continues his dramatic improvement. But there's another youngster ready to leap off the Amex talent conveyor belt.

I was mightily impressed by Howell's cameo debut in the penultimate game of last season. He helped win the game with his front-foot, fearless, direct running at the opposition.

His cousin Jack Hinshelwood had a big breakthrough season last time around - 2025-26 could be the year for Harry.

Charalampos Kostoulas

Age: 18 Position: Forward Country: Greece

Mark Scott: Brighton's track history of buying low and selling high is the envy of city traders, but their £30m outlay on Charalampos Kostoulas is the second most they've ever spent on a player.

The Seagulls rarely get it wrong, though and haven't blinked at splashing that much on an 18-year-old with just a season of senior football behind him.

He's shown versatility, having impressed as a number nine at academy level, before switching successfully to a second striker role once he made the first team at Olympiakos.

His physicality has also caught the eye, with one of his former coaches saying the strength he has for his age is "extraordinary". Maybe he'll turn out to be yet another Brighton bargain.

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Borussia Dortmund have joined Bayer Leverkusen in showing an interest in taking Brighton and Argentina winger Facundo Buonanotte, 20, on loan this season. (Mail, external)

Meanwhile, Manchester United are lining up a £50m deal for Sporting and Denmark midfielder Morten Hjulmand, 26, if they miss out on Brighton's 21-year-old Cameroon international Carlos Baleba. (Sun, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

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