Chief Executive Paul Barber has confirmed that Brighton have turned down money spinning tours of the USA and Asia this summer.
With a number of clubs heading off abroad for training camps and pre season tournaments and games, Barber said Brighton’s sole focus this summer was staying in the Premier League so we were keeping things simple and making sure our pre season preparations are as spot on as they can be.
Speaking to Sky Sports this week following the announcement of the Atletico Madrid friendly at the Amex Stadium in pre season, Barber explained that whilst we planned on building relationships with top European clubs in order to facilitate business in the future, Brighton won’t run before they can walk in the top flight, so despite offers coming in from the US and Asia, this year at least has seen them rejected.
‘We had offers to go to the United States and Asia but we are not interested in money-spinning tours. First season: let’s keep it simple. It comes back to remembering who we are and where we come from. We have a huge season to prepare for and some first-class facilities in which to do that and you can’t make use of them if you spend pre-season far from home.’
Brighton have already arranged a training camp out in Austria in July and arranged friendlies against Crawley Town, Southend United, Norwich City and then the plum Atletico clash with them reaching the Champions League final twice in the last four seasons, and Barber is convinced we’ll be ready and prepared for our first season in the Premier League.
‘It takes effort and planning but we don’t just say ‘come and play’ we tell them ‘come and use our training facilities and get to know us.’ We are looking to extend our relationships in Europe, as we have done with Sevilla and Villarreal, and not just use pre-season as a money-making exercise.’
Barber also revealed that there were hopes of arranging a friendly with Atletico’s Academy side and try and get Chris Hughton and Diego Simeone together as Hughton prepares for the top flight.
He also joked that we had tried to arrange a loan deal for Antoine Griezmann but he doesn’t think that request will actually come off.
‘We did try to slip in a request for a loan deal but not sure if they will accept.’
