Here is how each player has performed and their chances of breaking into the first team squad for next season.

Brighton loan players – Goalkeepers

WAB recently looked at how the respective loan spells of Carl Rushworth, James Beadle and Kjell Scherpen suggested all three are capable of challenging for a place in the Albion’s first team squad next season.

Rushworth at Swansea City has been statistically the best goalkeeper in the Championship. Beadle did so well in League One at Oxford United that his loan was cancelled so he could move up a division and join Sheffield Wednesday. Scherpen was having a strong season with Sturm Graz in Austria before an ACL operation ended his season in December.

Underlining their potential, all three have signed contract extensions with Brighton in the last 12 months. And all could reasonably expect to be ahead of Jason Steele and Tom McGill in the pecking order if they remain at the Amex next season.

For any to spend 2024-25 sat on the bench as number two to Bart Verbruggen would be to stall their career progression, however. All three may therefore be set for further loans next season.

Defenders

Imari Samuels impressed on the summer tour to the USA. It was a bit of a surprise when he did not get any first team action earlier in the season when every full back was injured.

Instead, he joined Fleetwood Town in January but has struggled for game time in League One. It has been a similar story for Ed Turns, who re-joined Leyton Orient having helped the Os League Two title last season.

Turns was recalled from his second spell at Brisbane Road in January after only making 17 appearances. A return to League Two with Crewe Alexandra has seen him prosper again. Two health scares overshadowed and cut short the loan move of Odel Offiah at Hearts.

All three of Samuels, Turns and Offiah look someway off the first team squad, despite the promise shown earlier in their careers.

Midfielders

Now 25 and nearing the end of his contract, the assumption must be that Steven Alzate is coming to end of this time at Brighton. He has spent the season with Standard Liege in Belgium.

Reports last summer suggested Roberto De Zerbi was considering making Alzate part of the first team squad, but evidently decided against that.

With hindsight, the level of injuries and the lack of impact of Mahmoud Dahoud mean Alzate might have been a useful player to keep around.

Dahoud has been used mainly as a substitute since joining Stuttgart in January, playing just 146 minutes. Albeit arguably because of strong performances by the current incumbents near the top of the Bundesliga.

A future at Brighton looks unlikely for Dahoud, at least while De Zerbi remains manager. The improving Jack Hinchy was preferred on the bench to Dahod in December. Hinchy also headed out on loan the following month, joining League One side Shrewsbury Town.

De Zerbi has been typically forthright with his public opinions on Dahoud, saying: “I have already spoken to him a lot of times, I expect more and more from him. More quality, personality, energy, enthusiasm.”

“I was clear with him. It can be difficult at the beginning in another country. In the end, we are competing at the first level of football and you need time, but football, sometimes, can’t give that time.”

Dahoud was at least signed from Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer, so could yet net a useful profit if anyone wants to sign him permanently this summer.

It has been a mixed season for Yasin Ayari, getting less game time than he and the Albion would have hoped at Coventry City and Blackburn Rovers in the Championship.

Likewise, Jensen Weir has struggled to make the same impact he managed in League One last season with Morecambe at either Blackpool or Port Vale in the same division.

At 20-years-old, time remains on the side of Kacper Kozłowski. His progress though has been slower than expected as he flits between being a starter and substitute for Vitesse Arnhem. Kozłowski is certainly yet to justify his status as one Europe’s most promising young midfielders.

The biggest midfield success story amongst Brighton loan players is easily Marc Leonard at Northampton Town. He has been described as “one of the standout players in League One this season” and is attracting significant interest from the Championship.

A loan to the second tier next season would help the Albion assess whether Leonard can step up to Premier League level. Although if a Championship club makes a bid too good to turn down, Brighton may find themselves deciding to sell.

With no Brighton loan midfielders looking capable of joining the first team squad for 2024-25, it is a position the Albion will surely need to strengthen in the summer transfer window.

A renewed pursuit of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would therefore make sense, especially given Leicester City’s current PSR-related issues.