Brighton & Hove Albion Close to Signing Viktoria Plzen's Promising Right-Back Ales Mateju

Brighton and Hove Albion are on the verge of adding more depth to their squad for the imminent 2017-18 Premier League campaign with the club being supposedly close to landing Viktoria Plzen's Ales Mateju.

The 21-year-old right-back - according to a report published by The Argus - is on the cusp of penning a contract at the Seagulls, a deal which after add-ons have been taken into account could allegedly rise to a figure of around £2m or so.

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The Czech began his career at his hometown club Pibram, moving through their development ranks before being loaned-out to PSV Eindhoven's U19 set-up in June 2014 for a season.

The full-back was bought by Plzen in July 2015 and has made 50 appearances for the club, he also has past experience in the Europa League for his current employers - a true mark of his underlying calibre.

Representing his country at every level spanning from U16 to U21, Mateju has a strong pedigree, and has been targeted by Brighton as a long-term investment as they look to build for the future in the top-flight.

It would not be the first time that the south coast outfit have raided the HET Liga for Czech talent, with former FK Mlada Boleslav winger Jiri Skalak making the move to the Amex Stadium in January 2016.

Although Mateju will not be joining Skalak, 25, in the first-team squad at Brighton if he is to indeed join from Plzen; a stint in the club's U23 fold will presumably be his initial destination as he continues to develop his game.

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Chris Hughton will be desperate to acquire some youthful enthusiasm to invigorate his squad for the coming campaign, and if Brighton can button down Mateju's signature next term it could prove to be a very shrewd piece of business if he can live-up to expectation on English shores.