The transfer window has become an increasingly significant part of the footballing calendar in recent years, and while some clubs can't help but make frequent and very costly mistakes when it comes to the buying and selling of players, others have built reputations as shrewd operators and finders of value in an ever more expensive market.
However, there is one side that, over recent years, has undeniably been the best-run club in European football, Brighton & Hove Albion.
Owner Tony Bloom has taken over a club that has seen its fair share of money problems in the past and, with an intelligent recruitment team and maybe just a bit of good luck, has built up a track record of consistently achieving excellent outcomes in the transfer market, both buying and selling players.
With that in mind, Football FanCast has created a list of Brighton's top ten transfers since their promotion to the Premier League.
10 Billy Gilmour
So, kicking things off, we have the signing of Scotland international Billy Gilmour from Premier League rivals Chelsea.
This is an interesting deal, as at the time, there was an expectation that the young Scot would be going back out on loan following an underwhelming spell at Norwich City, but instead, the Seagulls pounced and offered to take him permanently, to which Chelsea surprisingly agreed.
While he initially struggled at the club, he has since come into his own in the midfield and started five Premier League games and the club's first Europa League game.
Considering his age, recent performances and the fact that he only cost the club £9m, we reckon Gilmour could be the next big profit maker for Brighton unless they decide to keep their stars going forward.
9 Marc Cucurella
From a player who left Chelsea to join Brighton to a player who left Brighton to join Chelsea, Marc Cucurella is next on our list.
Brighton's transfer business in the summer of 2022 was primarily dominated by the saga surrounding Cucurella's potential sale to Manchester City. However, Pep Guardiola viewed the asking price as too steep and so opted to walk away from the deal, leaving space for the Blues to swoop in and pay whatever the Seagulls were asking for.
It turns out the Southcoast club were asking for £63m, which is exactly what they got.
The deal represented a £48m profit for the club, and with how the Spaniard has got on in West London, we'd argue that the sale was a masterstroke from Bloom and Co.
8 Joao Pedro
Now, this one might be a little premature – which is why it isn't higher on the list – but the signing of Joao Pedro from Watford looks like it'll go down as one of Brighton's best purchases since their promotion to the Premier League.
The club broke their transfer record in the summer when they paid £30m to sign the Brazilian, but considering his four goals in four starts across all competitions so far this season, it looks like he might end up being worth the money.
This is especially true when taking into account how many goals the club have scored in recent years without a dedicated and prolific number nine up front.
Should he end the campaign with 20 goals in all competitions, this must be considered a complete success.
7 Leandro Trossard
Leandro Trossard is an excellent example of what Brighton do so well.
The Belgian was signed from Genk in the summer of 2019 for just £15m at a time when he was a relative unknown to most fans in England, but after three years of excellent performances down on the Southcoast, he was sold onto Arsenal for a nice profit of £12m.
In retrospect, that fee does feel too low, but the player was reportedly unsettled at the time, and so Brighton might've just wanted rid, and so to do that, make a profit and enjoy three years of productive service, Trossard has to be on this list.
6 Ben White
Ben White's move to Arsenal in the summer of 2021 is one of those rare transfer deals that ultimately leaves all parties happy.
The Gunners now have a top-class right-back come centre-back, at a good age and for the foreseeable future, that they can build around.
For Brighton, they were able to sell a player that had been with them from the age of 16 for an absolutely mammoth fee of £50m, which was the third-highest fee for a right-back at the time.
What's more impressive is that the Seagulls have looked no worse without White, a trend that tends to repeat itself in this list.
5 Robert Sanchez
From defence to the goalkeeping position.
Are there any top-flight teams that change their number one quite as frequently as Brighton? We're looking at you, Mikel Arteta.
Spanish international Robert Sanchez is one of those keepers to be moved on recently. The Cartagena-born shot-stopper started his career on the Southcoast, and after a couple of loan spells to the lower leagues, he was eventually given his chance when Mathew Ryan was dropped from the Seagulls starting XI.
The 25-year-old earned 97 Premier League appearances for the club from 2020 to 2023, but the arrival of De Zerbi heralded the end of his starting spot in the team as he was soon replaced by Jason Steele and Bart Verbruggen.
So, when Chelsea enquired about Sanchez's availability in the summer, Brighton were more than happy to sell him and made a brilliant profit of £25m on a player they had no desire to keep at the club anymore.
4 Pervis Estupinan
Back to the incomings for this one, and when Brighton sold Cucurella to Chelsea in the summer of 2022, many were fearful for how the left side of Brighton's defence would cope in the Spaniard's absence, a fear that now sounds preposterous given the immense performances of Pervis Estupinan in his place.
The Seagulls took the £63m they sold Cucurella for and spent just £15m to sign the then-24-year-old from La Liga side Villarreal.
Since then, he has easily been one of the best left-backs in Europe and has considerably outperformed the man he was brought in to replace.
According to FBref, which compares players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, Estupinan sits in the top 8% of full-backs for assists and expected assists, the top 10% for non-penalty expected goals plus expected assists, the top 11% for touches in the opposition's penalty area, the top 12% for progressive passes and the top 14% for shot-creating actions and progressive carries, all per 90.
The signing of Estupinan has undoubtedly been a resounding success.
3 Yves Bissouma
Before a certain Ecuadorian midfielder stole all the headlines for his outstanding performances and outlandish price tag, Yves Bissouma was running Brighton's midfield.
The Mali international has to feature on this list as he was both an instrumental part of Brighton's team and was sold on for a profit.
He joined the club in the summer of 2018 for a reported fee of just £15m from Ligue 1 side Lille, and in the following four seasons, he made 124 appearances and even won the We Are Brighton fan's Player of the Season award in June 2021.
He netted the club a £10m profit when he moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £25m – which could rise to £35m – in 2022, and while it is great to make a profit on players, given his recent performances, they might've been able to get even more than that, and so he can't feature higher than here on this list.
2 Alexis MacAllister
Coming in as the runner-up in this list is none other than World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister.
When the Seagulls signed the Argentinean maestro in 2019, he was almost entirely unknown to football fans in the UK, something that was reflected in his relatively modest £7m transfer fee, but it wouldn't take long for fans to start taking notice.
In the following four years, the dynamic midfielder would make 112 appearances for the Southcoast side, playing an essential role in the team that qualified for the Europa League last season and, more impressively, starred for Argentina as they lifted their third World Cup in Qatar.
However, what makes this transfer even better is that the club also made a significant profit on his sale to Liverpool this summer, as the Reds paid an initial £35m for his services, which could rise to £55m if certain add-ons are met.
Could Brighton have asked for more money? Maybe, but knowing how they operate, they'll probably just sign another South American gem for £5m and reinvest the rest into the club.
1 Moises Caicedo
Well, here we are then, Brighton's smartest transfer since their return to the Premier League, and come on, who else could it have possibly been?
Moises Caicedo has to go down as not just the greatest transfer in Brighton's history but as one of the greatest transfers in the history of the entire Premier League.
He managed to provide the Seagulls with a season and a half of excellent performances and an absolutely massive profit when it was time for him to move on.
Starting with the finances then, Brighton signed the Ecuadorian midfielder for just £4.5m in January 2021, and then following a protracted dramatic transfer saga this summer, sold him to Chelsea – again – for a staggering £115m – a new Premier League record.
Now, it's usually viewed as good business if a team can make any profit on a player who has also been a good performer, but to make £110.5m on a player after signing him just two years prior is practically unheard of.
What's even more impressive is that for as essential as he was for the team last year and their eventual Europa League qualification, the team have moved on from him seamlessly and now look set to challenge for a Champions League place whilst his new side appear wholly lost.
From every conceivable angle, the signing of Moises Caicedo was a monumental success and really just epitomises everything great about Brighton & Hove Albion as a football club.
And there you have it, Brighton's top ten transfers since their promotion back to the Premier League. There are some fantastic deals on this list, and with the way Tony Bloom runs his club, you just know that there will be a whole new list of names just a few years from now.
