Brighton & Hove Albion

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New Brighton midfielder Mats Wieffer is "not the player who attracts the most attention" but he had "a big role" in Feyenoord's title-winning season.

The 24-year-old has joined the Seagulls in a deal until 2029 and has cost the club a reported 30m euros (£25.4m).

Wieffer came through the FC Twente academy in the Netherlands before dropping down to the second division for two seasons with Excelsior.

In 2022, he joined Feyenoord, who were managed by new Liverpool boss Arne Slot, and scored nine goals while contributing 11 assists in 79 games across two seasons.

"Feyenoord took a gamble to take him for half a million euros and, after half a year struggling with some kind of injury, he came in the team and gave them great balance immediately," Dutch football writer Lentin Goodijk told BBC Radio Sussex.

"They won the league for only the second time this century. It was a big moment and he had a big role in it.

"He's not the player who attracts the most attention but does his role well. Arne Slot really worked with him and developed him physically.

"He can run a lot. He is winning a lot of duels - I think he had most times for possession won in the Eredivisie last season, so not just good at tackles but reading the play and winning those balls. He really played very well in the Champions League and controlled as the number six for Feyenoord.

"Wieffer really loves to get the information [from his coach] and can really channel it and do everything he gets told, which is another quality of course.

"Arne Slot was really proud of his development."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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The football never stops.

Euro 2024 has barely finished but Premier League clubs have already started turning their attention to pre-season friendlies.

The games are spread across the globe, from Tokyo and New York to Sligo and Crawley.

So who will your team face? And when and where are the matches?

Keep across all the fixtures and results here

We asked for your views on Brighton's new 2024-25 home shirt.

Here are some of your responses:

Matt: I wish we’d stop having the massive white patch on the back, would prefer to see stripes front and back.

Daniel: I love the new home shirt. For me it’s a combination of the popular 2020-21 shirt plus our most successful ever European qualification season of 2022-23. I love the touch of yellow, as this is on our badge too.

Simon: Too much white especially on the back but glad the traditional stripes are still there.

Norm: New kit looks good. No messing about with bits of yellow that have been on recent shirts. The kit looks slightly retro, which is not bad thing.

Anton: Same and not very inspired, particularly from a town known for its creativity.

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Brighton's Julio Enciso has been called up to the Paraguay's squad for the 2024 Olympic football tournament in Paris.

Paraguay's opening match against Japan is on Wednesday, 24 July and the final will take place on Saturday, 9 August, eight days before the Seagulls' Premier League opener away at Everton.

Enciso, 20, started all three of Paraguay's games as they exited this summer's Copa America in the group stages and made 12 league appearances for Brighton in the second half of last season.

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Brighton have unveiled the home shirt they will wear during the 2024-25 season.

The Premier League club said the new shirt "takes pinstripe inspiration from the 2020-21 season with a fading white pinstripe on the five blue stripes sitting on a white base".

Brighton fans - what do you think of the new shirt?

Tell us here, external

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Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has said new signing Malick Yalcouye has the ability to become a top talent.

Midfielder Malick, 18, arrived on a five-year contract from IFK Gothenburg on Friday.

"He is a talented midfielder with lots of potential to develop into a top-class player," said Hurzeler.

"He's excited about this next stage of his career and we're looking forward to helping him progress."

Yalcouye is Brighton's fifth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Ibrahim Osman, Yankuba Minteh, Mats Wieffer and Amario Cozier-Duberry.

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Kaoru Mitoma has spoken about the importance of preparing well following his long lay-off from injury and his excitement of playing friendlies in his home country with Brighton on their pre-season tour.

The winger's last game for the Seagulls was against Sheffield United in February, and speaking to Albion's official website, external he said "it was quite frustrating to finish the season with two or three months of not playing".

Mitoma added: "There were a few other injured players as well, so none of us could help the team. It's good for the team and good for me to be back in better shape then I was before the injury.

"It's important for me to prepare well so I can play to my strengths."

The 27-year-old joined the club from Kawasaki Frontale in 2021 and, before his return to play in Japan with Brighton, he said: "It's very rare for any team to play pre-season games in Japan.

"It'll probably be the first time many of the European players have travelled to Japan too. I hope they have fun, and we'll be playing against great J-League teams."

Brighton are due to face Kashima Antlers and Tokyo Verdy.

Stuttgart plan to make a new bid for Brighton striker Deniz Undav. (Bild, in German - subscription needed), external

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

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Central defender Ben Jackson has signed a contract extension with Brighton and will immediately join Scottish Championship side Livingston for a season-long loan.

Jackson, 20, is now under contract until June 2025, with the club holding an option for a further year.

Men’s under-21 head coach Shannon Ruth said, “We were pleased with Ben’s progress last season. He is a player who has some strong attributes and is the type of centre back we like to have here in the academy.

“Now he has an excellent opportunity to take that step into a men’s first team environment. Gordon Greer’s department will keep a close eye on his development over the course of the season.”

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Brighton will host La Liga side Villarreal in their final pre-season friendly in August.

The game will be head coach Fabian Hurzeler's first at the Amex, following two games in Japan and a trip to Championship opposition QPR.

Villarreal and Brighton last met in 2013 - also in pre-season - when the Spanish side won 3-1.

The match will be played on Saturday 10 August, with kick-off at 15:00 BST.

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Brighton technical director David Weir is hoping further major tournament success for the club's players will help showcase them as a destination for young players.

The Seagulls have been outstanding in their recruitment over the past few years.

Alexis Mac Allister's World Cup win with Argentina provided a major boost in showing Brighton could be a pathway to success for players all over the world, some of whom might not have heard of the Premier League club.

Mac Allister might have moved on but Brighton could still find itself with a major tournament winner among their squad this summer.

England's Lewis Dunk and Germany's Pascal Gross might not be pivotal figures, but they could be part of a winning team, while 21-year-old Bart Verbruggen has become the Netherlands goalkeeper just 12 months after joining Brighton from Anderlecht for £16.3m.

"Identifying players is relatively easy," said Weir. "The hard part is bringing them to your club.

"What we can offer - and what we have shown - is that we are a club that gives young players opportunities. For the right players and agents, that is really important and really powerful.

"Alexis (Mac Allister) was a loan player, who took his time to adapt to the club, rapidly progressed and moved on. Simon Adingra won Afcon [Africa Cup of Nations].

"Hopefully, we will have a player who wins the Euros – but I won’t say which country. That would be a great message for everyone."

Brighton have swooped to take advantage of Liverpool's delay in sealing a deal for Feyenoord midfielder Mats Wieffer. (De Telegraaf), external

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

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Chairman Tony Bloom has said new head coach Fabian Hurzeler "embraces" Brighton's approach to using data as a valuable tool to try to improve all aspects of the Premier League club.

"We think data is really important in all high-level sport, so it is important to have somebody as a head coach who understands that," Bloom told BBC Radio Sussex. "We can work with Fabian on all sorts of data to improve everything; whether it's recruitment, tactics or medical data to reduce the chance of player injuries.

"It's becoming more and more important, and it's great that Fabian embraces that."

Asked about Brighton's targets for next season, Bloom added: "Our long-term vision is to be a regular top-10 men's Premier League club and that remains.

"Each season is different, we absolutely enjoyed our time in Europe last season and our goal is to replicate [it] this season and for many years to come.

"It won't be easy. With the clubs coming up, I think it will be the strongest ever Premier League season. The Premier League is going from strength to strength.

"We have high ambitions, we don't have a ceiling and we're really looking forward to the season ahead."

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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It is evidence of the way football has changed that there was no mention of hairdryers in Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton unveiling news conference on Tuesday.

The only temper he referenced was to do with the number of yellow cards he has picked up in Germany after accepting he had developed a reputation as a 'hot-head'.

Hurzeler prefers to get under the skin of his players, to learn what makes them tick, rather than screaming at them to improve performance.

"In my experience, when you really value the player and give him the feeling you really want to improve him, then he follows," he said.

"It is important to see the person behind the player. It is important you give him time, talk to him, listen to him and see where he wants to improve.

"All these things make it easy for me. I don’t have to be artificial. I can be authentic with them.

"On top of that, it is about giving the team a vision for where we want to go so that we have a clear orientation, we know our targets for what we want to achieve, so every day they bring high standards onto the pitch.

"It is a lot of hard work in the beginning but the main point is if you can build a culture, it is easy for me as a coach."

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Brighton have appointed Jonas Scheuermann as assistant head coach to new boss Fabian Hurzeler, as well as two other backroom staff.

Schueuermann joins from Bundesliga side Augsburg, where he has been assistant manager since 2017.

Marco Knoop, who worked with Hurzeler at previous club St Pauli, will come in as goalkeeping coach.

Meanwhile, Max Lesser, a former chief analyst at Dutch giants Ajax, has been recruited as tactical analyst.

The appointments are subject to work permits being approved.

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Brighton chairman Tony Bloom believes new head coach Fabian Hurzeler is "a great fit" for the Premier League club.

Hurzeler left St Pauli to succeed Roberto de Zerbi as Seagulls boss and, aged 31, he is the youngest full-time manager in Premier League history.

Bloom told BBC Radio Sussex: "We had a meeting for about three or four hours and the conversation flowed. We were really impressed about how mature Fabian was, the way he talked about football and he spoke like a very experienced head coach.

"Even though he's a fairly young head coach, he's got five and a half years' experience.

"We think it's a great fit for Brighton. Our fans, our players and the whole city should be very excited about this appointment."

Asked if Hurzeler's appointment could be viewed as a "gamble", Bloom added: "I wouldn't talk about it as a gamble at all.

"We look at everything. We put a lot of effort into any head coach appointment, as other clubs do. We think Fabian is the best fit for the football club - the least risk option of all the options we had."

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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New Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler gave a fascinating insight into his man management ethos at his unveiling press conference on Wednesday.

At the age of 31, Hurzeler will become the youngest permanent Premier League manager - and is younger than a number of players in his squad.

Given he will be going up against some of the biggest name managers in the game - including Pep Guardiola - next season, I wondered if he ever experienced imposter syndrome, when individuals doubt themselves and feel they do not belong in the environment they are in.

This was his answer.

"It is so important to have a mixture between courage and humility," he said.

"Of course, deep inside, I have a conviction that, together with my team, we can do this.

"It is not a one-man show. We can achieve something big together as a team. There is a togetherness. I am completely convinced we as a team can do it."

Brighton are interested in Feyenoord's 24-year-old Netherlands midfielder Mats Wieffer and Rayo Vallecano's Romania full-back Andrei Ratiu, 26. (Athletic - subscription required, external)

If Borussia Dortmund fail in their attempts to sign Germany midfielder Pascal Gross, 33, from Brighton, they will make a move for Tottenham's 28-year-old Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. (Sky Sports Germany, external)

Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column