Young full back Rob Hunt yesterday made the loan move out to League One side Oldham Athletic until the end of the current campaign.
The 21 year old defender has made eight first team appearances for Brighton so far this season – one in the Championship, and seven further showings split across the FA Cup, League Cup and the EFL Trophy.
Heading out for the remainder of the 2016/17 campaign it should be a good opportunity for the youngster to get more regular first team action under his belt to aide his development and the deal has gone through in time for him to potentially debut for the Boundary Park outfit in their game against Bradford City this weekend.
Speaking to the Official Site as the move was announced, manager Chris Hughton said of the deal.
‘This is a great move for Rob, and one which we feel will benefit all parties. The opportunity is there for him to go and play regular football, week in, week out in League One and that will really benefit his development. There is no doubting he is a player with great potential, but at this stage he needs to be out there playing regularly. Initially it had been the plan to send him on loan in the summer, but with the injury to Liam, we needed him with the first team as cover for the full-back positions.’
Hughton went on to say that although he’s benefited from training with the first team and making his appearances he obviously needs more game time than that so with ample cover now, it’s a good time to get him out and hopefully get him that run of games he needs.
‘He’s benefited from training with the first team, and from playing in a number of the cup competitions, but now he wants to go out on loan and play regularly, and it is a good time for him go and do that. With Seb Pocognoli fit, Bruno and Liam Rosenior both back training, Fikayo Tomori here from Chelsea on loan, Gaetan Bong not too far away from returning to training, and Sam Adekugbe and Connor Goldson too, we have good cover for both of the two full-back positions.’
