Tony Bloom to deliver his greatest transfer trick yet as Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister plan summer exit

Brighton always appear to be a club with a plan. Roberto De Zerbi’s team are currently sixth in the Premier League and pushing for European qualification, despite losing some of their best players and their entire management team.

In recent windows, Albion have sold Ben White, Yves Bissouma, Dan Burn, Marc Cucurella, Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard, while Chelsea also poached their head coach Graham Potter and his coaching staff.

Albion have been compensated handsomely for their losses as the incoming vs outgoing balance sheet makes impressive reading for the people employed to count the numbers. So far, recent low-cost arrivals – such as Joel Veltman, Tariq Lamptey, Alexis Mac Allister, Kaoru Mitoma and Moises Caicedo – have more than cushioned the blow and, in some cases, provided an upgrade on those who left.

It is of course a calculated risk and so far Albion have come up trumps but this summer they face perhaps their greatest challenge in terms of succession planning. World Cup winner Mac Allister and Caicedo – who wanted to leave for Arsenal last month – look near-certain to exit this summer. The South American pair have formed an excellent midfield partnership and have enabled Brighton to dominate matches against some of the best players and biggest spending teams in the division.

Mac Allister and Caicedo are Champions League quality and their combined value this summer could see Albion receive upwards of £120m for the duo. More good news for the accountants but a huge concern for fans and head coach De Zerbi as the fulcrum of the team disappears in an instant. So what’s the plan, do they break their transfer record and wage structure this summer with their new found wealth… or continue with their prudent and strategic approach?

An established Premier League midfield name would please the fans and there has been gentle talk of a free transfer move for Liverpool’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is keen for regular football and could favour a move back to the south coast. Brighton, as it was for his old team-mate Adam Lallana, could be an appealing option.

De Zerbi also knows the European market well and is well-placed to bring in a midfielder he trusts to navigate Brighton through this tricky period. The club do however have a number of in-house options, already on the books.

Former Chelsea man Billy Gilmour will hope to get his big chance of regular football next season and Poland international Jakub Moder – a regular under Potter – should be back and firing after a serious ACL injury. Kacper Kozlowski, on loan at Vitesse, remains an strong option as does another Albion loanee Steven Alzate. The unknown and untested Yasin Ayari was brought in the previous window for around £5m and young Andrew Moran has made strides forward this term. Midfielder Taylor Richards looks likely make his QPR loan deal permanent this summer, while the ageing legs of Pascal Gross and Lallana cannot be expected to carry a Mac Allister and Caicedo type load. Enock Mwepu was also forced to retire earlier this season having been diagnosed with a heart condition, aged 25.

That leaves two further options and they are probably the pick of Brighton’s young crop of midfielders currently out on loan in the lower divisions – Jensen Weir at League One Morecambe and Marc Leonard at League Two Northampton. Weir is the son of Albion’s technical director David and has nine goals so far for a team struggling near the wrong end of the table.

Leonard, meanwhile, has been key to Northampton’s promotion push and has shown the physicality along with his ability to stand-out each week in League Two. Much of Northampton’s play runs through the 21-year-old as he often tops the stats for passes and interceptions. League Two and League One clearly seems a long way off replacing established internationals Mac Allister and Caicedo in the Premier League but Brighton do have time and options to consider their latest and most tricky piece of succession planning.

A midfield featuring Moder and Gilmour is a likely next step but Leonard and Weir may also be pushing for De Zerbi’s matchday squads next season. So could the plan be… bank £120m, add a shrewd free transfer and unleash two academy graduates? It could well be Tony Bloom’s greatest trick yet.

Then, fast-forward 18 months, Arsenal will want Weir and Leonard and so the cycle begins again – seems almost silly to rule it out!