Albion boss Sami Hyypia fears it will be hard to replace Leo Ulloa.

But he has backed new signing Chris O’Grady to add a physical edge to his attacking options.

The Seagulls go to Peterborough tomorrow (3pm) for their penultimate pre-season friendly with at least one more striker high on Hyypia’s shopping list after Ulloa’s £8 million move to Leicester.

O’Grady’s debut following his £500,000 capture from Barnsley was delayed by a rib injury at Crawley on Wednesday night. Hyypia hopes to have him available tomorrow, together with fellow newcomers Nzuzi Toko and Aaron Hughes who also both missed the 1-1 draw at Crawley with a swollen knee and illness respectively.

Hyypia said of life without Leo: “I think it will be difficult to find a similar kind of player. We would need somebody who scores the goals Leo did last season. That would be a great help for me, of course, and for the whole team.

“We’ll see. I think Chris O’Grady is the type of striker we didn’t have, so that was the idea bringing him in. He brings a physical presence up front. Leo was a little bit similar, a presence up front.

"Hopefully Chris will score many goals for us as well but we need to also have a look at which type of striker we still add to the squad.

“If we have a good selection of different types of players in the front three positions then I think that would be a help for us. It’s not as if I am counting how many strikers I will have.

"The main thing is having a selection of different types of players you can use in different games.”

England under-21 international Solly March is expected to sit out the Peterborough game after a right hip problem forced him off early on at Crawley.

Hyypia said: “He got a knock and when it’s a knock it will be okay in a few days. Solly has done well in pre-season and he has the quality up front. He can bring a lot of things to the team.”