Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler has not ruled out adding more leadership experience to his squad in the January transfer window after missing out on Mats Hummels in the summer.
Brighton were keen to sign Hummels, but the 35-year-old former German international and Borussia Dortmund central defender moved to Italy instead to join Roma as a free agent.
Hurzeler has been without skipper Lewis Dunk, James Milner, Joel Veltman and Adam Webster through injury for periods this season, leaving the squad short of experience to see out games following the summer move also of Pascal Gross to Borussia Dortmund.
Hurzeler fielded his youngest Premier League line-up of the season, with an average age of 24 years and 85 days, for last Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Leicester, where his team led 2-0 until the 86th minute.
Hurzeler speaking at his press conference on Friday for Sunday’s game against Crystal Palace at the Amex Stadium, said: “For me it’s so important to have the team player, the leaders and the individuals. And when the structure is not perfect on the pitch, there are reasons where we might not be able to manage the game in the right way, where we might have bad periods in the season.
Brighton were interested in Hummels in the summer before he joined Roma (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
“Of course, it’s always a discussion about having leaders in the team and having old players and experienced players in the team. But in the end we also need to understand and be completely convinced about the way the club works.
“It’s the way from the club and also my approach to give young players the chance to grow as a leader. So, we have young players like Jack Hinshelwood, JP (Jan Paul van Hecke), Bart Verbruggen. They have all the things to be a leader, but we need to give them the chance to grow.
“If we only buy old, experienced players then it might happen that we stop the development to being a leader, so it is very important to find the right balance.
“On the one side to understand the structure of the team, of the club, where we might be able to add an older, experienced player and where we might push our own players to develop into this role. We always have to analyse that and it’s a big thing for me, because in the end it’s not only about tactics and having the right match plan, it’s about having the right hierarchy and the right structure in your team.
“When a lot of leaders are missing on the pitch, the structure is not the best and then there are reasons why things happen.”
Former Dutch international Veltman remains a doubt for Palace’s visit. The 32-year-old right-back’s absence from the last three games has coincided with only two points taken by Hurzeler’s seventh-placed side from matches at home to bottom club Southampton, away to Fulham (10th) and Leicester (16th).
Central defender Jan Paul van Hecke is in line to make his 50th Premier League appearance for the club against 17th-placed Palace.
The 24-year-old Netherlands international needs to avoid a fifth booking in any of the next four matches to escape a one-game ban.
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Why was Fabian Hurzeler in with the Brighton away fans at Selhurst Park last season?
(Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)