Albion have expanded their recruitment department to capitalise on the high-tech facilities at the club’s £30 million training ground in Lancing and improve the chances of delivering quality signings for manager Sami Hyypia.

Former Blackburn, West Ham and Fulham central defender Ian Pearce has taken charge of scouting in London and the South-East.

Jamie Johnson, Millwall’s chief scout for four years, has become the Seagulls’ overseas scout.

The pair were appointed by player identification manager Paul Winstanley, who The Argus revealed in the summer joined the club from Derby County.

Albion’s head of football David Burke said: “It’s always been our plan to develop the recruitment department once we had a dynamic working place where all the departments inter-act, because any signing is a multi-department approach.

“We are, like many clubs now, very analytical. Managers don't have the time, so we work a lot on video analysis.

“We also wanted the scouts to be in a lot to inter-act with the manager, talk about players. They don't just work at home."

Winstanley was head of recruitment for seven seasons at Derby under Nigel Clough and head analyst with Steve McClaren following a five-year stint at Wigan.

Walsall-based Darren Wrack has been retained in the recruitment team, with responsibility for scouting in the Midlands and North instead of the whole of the UK, since the addition of Pearce.

Ex-West Ham goalkeeper Mervyn Day, now at West Brom, and Spanish-based former overseas scout Zigor Aranalde were summer casualties of the recruitment changes.

The department, overseen by Burke as part of his wide-ranging brief, has come under scrutiny for the quality of signings made by the club over the last 18 months.

None of the seven contracted outfield players arriving during the permanent transfer window are likely to start today's home game against Fulham but the return of Elliott Bennett from Norwich and the capture this week of Darren Bent from Aston Villa during the loan window has provided Hyypia with a significant boost in his bid to steer Albion away from the Championship danger zone.