Brighton ready to splash transfer cash amid Matt O'Riley pursuit as Seagulls chief pleads with Billy Gilmour to stay

Brighton chief Paul Barber insists the Premier League club have the cash to strengthen and will continue to follow their model of targeting young, hungry players – with the Seagulls confident of landing Matt O’Riley in a Scottish record transfer deal.

The south coast side have earned a reputation as one of the best run clubs in England’s top flight and are the frontrunners to land Celtic star O’Riley in a deal that would top the £25million Arsenal paid to sign Kieran Tierney from the Hoops.

Barber was a guest on talkSPORT to discuss the club’s transfer strategy with new boss Fabian Hurzeler looking reshape his squad. O’Riley is seen as being a part of that and at just 23-years-old and having been part of Celtic’s domestic dominance and starring in the Champions League, fits the profile of players Barber outlined.

And, most importantly, finances aren’t an issue right now. He said: “Trading goes both ways. Sometimes you’re selling because you have assets other people want and you can optimise the price and other times you’re buying because you’re looking to build the squad to go again.

“We’re in the process at the moment where in a fortunate position of two or three years’ good trading where we have the wherewithal and means in which we can go into the market and buy. But that’s with a view to making our squad better and making ourselves more competitive and hopefully repeating what we’ve been able to do over the last few seasons which is to be in and around the top 10 of the Premier League and ideally qualify for a European competition again.

“It’s a slight variation on our model but not a significant difference in terms of the way we operate. We’re still buying young and buying talent we think our coaches can improve