Has Albion

Brighton and Hove Albion FC Football Sport

Albion’s expected sale of Jan Paul van Hecke will be hailed by the wider football media as another example of them using the transfer market wisely.

Bring in a player largely unknown for a small fee, develop him carefully and then sell at a quick, big profit when the time and price are right.

But, behind the scenes at Lancing, it might also be viewed as an evolution in that process.

Not such a quick profit this time. A sign of keeping hold of talent for a little longer than they used to.

Van Hecke will have had six years with the Seagulls if he moves on this summer.

Kaoru Mitoma, another very saleable asset, is currently on five years and looks likely to extend that.

Yasin Ayari is on three-and-a-half years and, again, that looks like increasing.

Carlos Baleba and Bart Verbruggen are on three years and, in both cases, that might or might not end this summer.

What we know is that Baleba’s time at Albion could very easily have reached its finale last summer.

Instead, they kept hold of him and made it clear that he would go nowhere until this summer at the earliest.

By contrast, looking at the more high-profile sales by which Albion are often measured, Moises Caicedo was on board for two-and-a-half-years, Marc Cucurella for just one season and Joao Pedro for two.

Alexis Mac Allister had a more substantial four-and-a-half years as an Albion player but even that is less than Mitoma and van Hecke.

Albion believe that might be a reason why there are suggestions their recruitment model has stalled.

They believe keeping players for that bit longer saves them when it comes to making signings.

And they would point to back-to-back eighth-place finishes plus Europe next season as evidence that their recruitment is still of a high quality.

Because that has been the suggestion in more recent times, as teams such as Bournemouth and Brentford take praise – that Albion’s recruitment is not what it was.

Certainly, picking up a trio of Mac Allister, Caicedo and Mitoma for a total of about £15 million takes some beating.

What they would point out is that the model has shifted slightly in the sense that they are more comfortable now retaining players for longer and realising value in a different way.

And that there will be other players that are much slower burns.

In terms of van Hecke, Albion are convinced they have had real value from him for a period of time, which has saved money in other ways.

There is a belief at Lancing that recruitment is not a perfect science and there will always be hits and misses.

But also a confidence that they get more hits than misses, that they generate more trading income than virtually any other club in the UK, if not Europe, and that they are very comfortable with the way their models work.

Could there be another block-buster Caicedo-type deal at some stage?

When factors such as competition for a player, a big recent deal which can be used as a precedent (in that case, Declan Rice to Arsenal) and, of course, the quality of the player and the need of the buying club, can combine to bring in a huge fee.

Sales such as the nine-figure Caicedo deal helped the club move into £40 million territory with Georginio Rutter or the £30 million for Joao Pedro, both of which were previously out of their reach.

That summer window in which Rutter arrived is the one which has instilled the most doubts over Albion’s enduring prowess in the market.

Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer feel like decent additions in that time and, after recovering from injury, Ferdi Kadioglu has won player of the season.

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Brajan Gruda and Matt O’Riley have had their moments but no more than that and it would be no surprise if one or both moved on in some way this summer.

Ibrahim Osman, Amario Cozier-Duberry and Malick Yalcouye were projects for the future and there are probably differing opinions as to how successful they will be.

Still, that was two years ago - and it might be worth remembering where some of the successful signings were after two years.

With at least three senior players leaving as free agents, van Hecke likely to be sold, other players attracting attention and Europe to plan for, this always promised to be a busy summer for the recruitment team, now headed by Mike Cave.

They will be confident they are doing things well, even if the relatively quick big sales are not so common.