Brighton Owner Hits Out at '50% Premium' for Premier League Clubs in Transfer Market
Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom has claimed that clubs from across Europe will demand a premium from Premier League clubs during the transfer window after the Seagulls forked out over £60m on new recruits this summer.
The club's previous record signing of Shane Duffy from Blackburn Rovers for just over £4m has been eclipsed nine times since Brighton gained promotion to the Premier League.
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Most recently, the former top goalscorer in the Eredivisie, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, became Brighton's record signing by ditching life at AZ Alkmaar for an estimated £17m, surpassing the £15m that was spent on Jürgen Locadia in January.
But Bloom claims that the Seagulls have been forced to pay over the odds when buying from across Europe this summer, something which he believes is solely down to Brighton being a Premier League club.
"A club’s got a player to be sold and it’s X-million euros and then when you go in as a Premier League club, there’s a 30%, or 50% premium," Bloom said, quoted by BT Sport. "It’s just the way it is, it doesn’t mean we’re going to accept that or do that. But there are certainly a lot of European clubs, when they see a Premier League club coming, they are quite excited about it.
"And they certainly increase the price and there’s nothing we can do; we can’t hide the fact we’re a Premier League club."
Bloom has certainly hit the nail on the head in terms of Premier League clubs being forced to pay a premium, but Brighton have arguably had one of the best transfer windows in the division in terms of value for money.
Iranian forward Jahanbakhsh was heavily in demand this summer but Brighton secured his signature for under £20m, while striker Florin Andone (£5m), Brazilian full back Bernardo (£9m) and exciting midfielder Yves Bissouma (£15m) all arrived at the Amex for very reasonable prices given the current market.
