It has to go down as one of the best pieces of business in Albion's history.

Darren Currie was sold to Ipswich last Friday for £250,000, a mere 18 weeks after manager Mark McGhee signed him on a free transfer from Wycombe Wanderers.

That equates to a daily profit of nearly £2,000, an exceptional deal for the cash-strapped Seagulls but not quite as extraordinary as the move involving another midfielder six years ago.

Paul Holsgrove, like Currie, was picked up for nothing by Brian Horton. Just 39 days later Holsgrove was sold to Hibernian for £110,000 after one appearance for Albion in a pre-season friendly.

Horton, now in charge of Macclesfield, said: "Paul had been freed by Stoke and I had seen him play a bit.

"We needed someone with a bit of experience in midfield and I made him captain. Then I got a phone call from Alex McLeish, the Hibs manager.

"We had beaten them to Paul's signature. They offered £50,000 at first, then £75,000 and £100,000. I kept on saying no until it got to £110,000.

"I went to Dick Knight and the board and recommended that we sold him. For a club struggling for money it was too good to turn down.

"It was a fantastic deal. We had Paul for five weeks and he never played a League game for us."

Jim Magilton, Currie's new midfield colleague at Ipswich, was the subject of another of Horton's most notable transfer deals.

The former Albion captain and manager took Magilton from Liverpool to Oxford for £100,000. He was eventually sold to Southampton for £600,000 and subsequently to Sheffield Wednesday for £1.6 million.

"That was a good bit of business, but Darren Currie is a helluva profit for Brighton," said Horton. "I've always fancied him as a player. He has very good ability. Wycombe must be sick."

McGhee is sick at losing his playmaker, but not surprised. The only surprise to him was Currie's willingness to sign a new contract Albion were negotiating when Ipswich came in.

"He was obviously happy here, but I thought he was doing so well that he would keep his options open," McGhee said.

"We had decided on the coach on the way back from the play-off final at Cardiff that we were going to play a lot more football in the First Division.

"One of the short cuts to doing that is to put a footballer in the team. They play and that rubs off on other people.

"I've always had somebody like that in my team, Simon Osborn at Wolves, Kevin Dillon at Reading, Gary Parker at Leicester.

"When Darren came his attitude was spot on. He was in the gym every morning for about two months, the same as Guy Butters, doing his fat burning and getting himself in absolutely top condition.

"I cannot see Darren being a regular for Ipswich in the Premiership if they are promoted, but his skills and touch are good enough to justify him making a contribution to a squad in the Premiership."

Currie's switch to Suffolk completes a hat-trick of memorable transfer deals by McGhee.

He snapped up current Portsmouth goalkeeper Shaka Hislop for Reading from Howard University in America. Hislop was eventually sold by the Royals to Newcastle for £1.6 million.

Another deal stands out for McGhee, one which will delight Albion fans because it was so costly to arch-rivals Crystal Palace.

"I think the best bit of business I did was selling Neil Emblen (now Walsall) to Crystal Palace for £2 million," McGhee said.

"I got him back to Wolves three months later for £600,000. It was the equivalent of Palace paying £1.4 million for a loan."