Albion need another centre-half and a full-back.

They will be important cogs in Chris Hughton's squad tinkering but the success or otherwise of the club's transfer business this summer will be defined by what happens at the other end of the pitch.

Who they sign to get the goals so they are not dependent on the unreliable play-offs to reach the Premier League for the fourth time in five seasons.

There is no sense of panic behind the scenes, nor should there be at this stage.

Transfer business has been slow so far across the country, as it always is when a major tournament is taking place. It will remain so until the Euro finals are over.

The homework has been done. A plan A, B and possibly C will be in place, although even the best-laid plans can sometimes be upset.

Albion cannot be certain that Lewis Dunk, Beram Kayal, Dale Stephens, Anthony Knockaert will all still be wearing their colours by the end of the transfer window.

The aim, of course, is that they will. The Seagulls are intent on adding to their best players, not losing them.

in an ideal world, their persistent interest in bringing Glenn Murray back to the club from Bournemouth will be rewarded.

Murray is a proven performer in the Championship. He has scored 44 goals in 97 games in the second tier for Crystal Palace and Reading (on loan).

At 32 he still has two or three good years left in him. Although Bournemouth are keen to recoup a chunk of the £4 million they paid for him at the start of the last season, he also falls within Albion's budget.

Supporters have to be realistic. The Seagulls cannot afford to pay the same transfer fees or wages as clubs bloated by Premier League parachute payments.

The record £3.25 million splashed out on Craig Mackail-Smith five years ago may be broken, it may not.

Strikers with a track record in the Championship do not come cheap. The remaining leading marksman from last season, Ross McCormack, is out of reach.

Beneath him came Jonathan Kodjia and, with Albion's very own Tomer Hemed (below), Nahki Wells.

The Argus: Southampton and Derby have been linked with Bristol City's French-born Ivory Coast international Kodjia, who was on Albion's radar before moving to England last summer.

Wells, who has scored 28 league goals in 79 appearances for Huddersfield in the last two seasons, still has two years left on his contract.

It would cost a lot more than the club record £1.3 million Huddersfield paid Bradford to prise away the Bermudan international.

The alternative is to look abroad, as Bristol did with Kodjia, as Albion have successfully themselves in recent seasons with Leo Ulloa and Tomer Hemed.

The better value comes with greater risk. How soon, if at all, will they settle into a different style of football in a different country, with all the professional and personal upheaval that entails?

Huddersfield's Yorkshire neighbours Leeds United, now in the care of Garry Monk, have taken this route by signing Marcus Antonsson from Swedish top-flight side Kalmar.

Albion cannot afford in their striker search another Elvis Manu, who temporarily became an unruly team-mate of Wells last season.

The Dutch enigma was the only blot on an otherwise excellent batch of business a year ago.

Although overall Hughton needs fewer players this time, two strikers are required following Bobby Zamora's release and James Wilson's return to Manchester United.

The support act could be a loan again, Wilson or somebody of his ilk, preferably for the season rather than threequarters of it.

Albion's transfer dealings are unlikely to be completed by the time they open at Derby on August 6.

An informed assessment of their prospects of improving on last season's remarkable near-miss will have to be deferred until the stand-out visit to Newcastle United five games in on August 27, after which the transfer window closes.

We will have a better idea then of whether they are equipped to strike.