Former Crystal Palace chairman addresses 'strange' Brighton transfer decision, Graham Potter responds

The duo joined the Seagulls from Liverpool and Watford respectively at the end of last season, bringing with them three Premier League and two Champions League winner’s medals.

Since then, they have wracked up a combined 29 outings in the top flight this term, with Welbeck scoring twice in 11 appearances, and Lallana still waiting for his first strike after 18 matches.

Potter gave an extended interview with talkSPORT on Monday afternoon, during which former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan was eager to discuss the arrivals of the experienced pair at the Amex.

He said: “I was looking at it in the summer, Graham, and I was sort of surprised by it.

"I look at the nature of the purchases that you’ve made, and the style of football that you want to play.

"Irrespective of the quality of Lallana, I looked and I thought, as a former owner, that they were strange decisions – a sort of Dad’s Army mentality coming in.

"What was the thinking behind those two?”

Potter responded: “In the previous transfer window, we bought the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Tariq Lamptey – young players that are at the start of their careers, and who are relatively unproven at Premier League level.

"We just felt that in the window that you refer to – coming through the Covid period, quite uncertain times – both of those players were free transfers, we picked up Joel Veltman as well for around €1 million, to bring in a bit of experience, an understanding of the level.

“As a coach, as a leader, you can speak about what you need to do, but sometimes it’s nice to have guys that have been there and done it, that know what it takes to work everyday and to improve the environment.

"That’s also important for us – how we work every day, the type of environment we have, the training ground, how we want to be.

"It helps our players improve, and that’s how we can get the younger ones, the likes of Robert Sanchez, Aaron Connolly, Steven Alzate, Ben White, the academy players, to get to the next point in their careers.”