Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has issued an update on the club's summer transfer plan, with Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister already attracting plenty of interest. The duo have both been heavily linked with moves to Arsenal and Chelsea lately as either side hopes to further bolster their midfield.
Despite Caicedo's best efforts to leave the Amex Stadium in January, the Seagulls blocked his exit. football.london understands that the Gunners submitted two bids for the 21-year-old but both were rejected.
It was said that the Blues were also preparing a bid for the Ecuador international in the event that they missed out on Enzo Fernandez, but Todd Boehly finally got his top-target on deadline day. In March, Caicedo signed a new long-term deal with Brighton, keeping him at the club until 2027.
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With regard to Mac Allister, football.london understands that the Blues hold a keen interest in the Argentina international despite having already signed his fellow countryman, Enzo Fernandez. Chelsea and Arsenal are expected to be joined by plenty of other top European clubs in the race to sign the Brighton duo this summer.
Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of the Seagull's clash against Manchester United, Barber addressed the rumours regarding the futures of Caicedo and Mac Allister. The Brighton chief said: "Well there’s always going to be rumours when we do well and our people do well.
"There’s always going to be bigger clubs playing at a higher level looking to take our best people but all we can do is perform at our highest potential, hopefully get to the highest position we ever have done in the Premier League and we’re confident we can keep our best people here for as long as possible.
"But you can never say anything is guaranteed in football and we’re certainly going to work hard to keep the best people here."
Barber was then asked if there is fear around the club about losing their best players. The 56-year-old replied: "First of all, we know it’s going to happen so we have to prepare for it as best as we can in advance.
"We try and bring more young players into the club, we try and look for where we’re potentially most vulnerable in terms of outgoings, and then we try to create the best possible environment we can for our own players so they want to stay here.
"For us that means playing at the highest level we can, pushing the youngsters to get into the first team, and giving them that opportunity to play at the highest level so hopefully they’ll see that staying here is better for their careers than not.
"I think every club these days is a selling club to some extent, even the biggest clubs sometimes get tempted by unbelievable offers for their players. Our challenge is to make sure that when we do lose players we’ve got player either already in the door, which is our ideal position, or coming back very quickly after them.
"That’s what we’ll keep trying to do, we’ll keep recruiting as we have done and hopefully building value for the club for the future."
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