For all his experience in management and coaching, Chris Hughton is confronting a new challenge this season.

Trying to keep Albion's 'League of Nations' in the Premier League.

The five permanent summer signings are connected by a common theme.

They are all foreigners who have been playing in other parts of Europe, never in England.

The side Hughton fields at Watford today in search of the Seagulls' first goals and points is likely to include Australian international Mathew Ryan from Valencia in goal.

Former Austrian international Markus Suttner (below) from Ingolstadt at left-back, Dutch international Davy Propper from PSV Eindhoven in midfield.

The Argus: German Pascal Gross, also from Ingolstadt, in the No.10 role, Colombian record signing from Brugge Jose Izquierdo on the left-wing or on the bench.

The market, and the landscape, was different when Hughton took Newcastle into the Premier League after promotion in 2010-11.

His first signings then were Sol Campbell, Dan Gosling and James Perch. They joined a British nucleus led by Joey Barton, Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan.

The late Cheick Tioté and Hatem Ben Arfa were added before Hughton was prematurely sacked, but the contrast is transparent.

Hughton said: "Predominantly it's the market. It's certainly not a case of wanting to bring in foreign players over English-based players or sometimes even foreign players that have played in England for a good period of time.

"The market is different. What you have to pay for an English player or a player playing in the English game on more occasions than not is more money.

"It's not a case of it's better abroad, it's about balancing books and what you can get for your money.

"It's just one of the challenges. The biggest challenge is making sure this club is in the Premier League next season, because we've just got promoted, as it will be for the other teams promoted.

"Around that there are lots of other challenges and it's just how the market is and how difficult is. There is no doubt also for what we've brought in and will potentially be bringing in, the ideal one would have been to have them three or four weeks ago for a real settling in period. But that's how the window is.

"They will want to make a good account of themselves. It's just for us to make sure we are putting them in the right holes and if we feel we need to make changes or take it a bit slower with one of them then that's part and parcel of management."

While the discontent of Rafa Benitez over Newcastle's summer transfer business rumble on, there are no complaints from Hughton about the level of backing he has received from Tony Bloom.

Spending on new recruits, including Izzy Brown on loan from Chelsea, has topped £35 million so far.

It will not stop there. Albion have switched back to their list of striker targets after Raphael Dwamena's failed medical and they are trying to line up a loan deal for out-of-favour Everton striker Oumar Niasse.

The Argus: They also remain in the market for another defender and third goalkeeper - Espanyol's Pau Lopez (above) is one of the candidates - before the window shuts on Thursday.

Hughton said: "What we have done is chose to get promotion at a time when transfer fees have in some cases gone through the roof. That's right through the different scales. We can talk about some of the massive transfer fees on really big players, but that has crept everything else up.

"Our chairman has been excellent in identifying that. We want to be in this division come next season and we've got to give ourselves every possible opportunity. Fortunately for me I've got a chairman that has very much identified that."

Hughton has to name a 25-man Premier League squad once the window closes. Twenty-six players were listed on the programme for Tuesday's Carabao Cup tie against Barnet.

Richie Towell and Rohan Ince, who has joined Bury for the rest of the season, have long been earmarked for loan exits, but there are likely to be one or two other departures. Four Championship clubs, including Reading, are chasing Tomer Hemed, although his situation has been impacted by the collapse of the Dwamena deal.

Hughton said: "Difficult decisions, yes, but it comes with the territory. The options we have as a club is to stay with the group we've got and go with that, but if you want to improve the squad it can only have a certain size.

"Amongst all that there will be players that don't make the team, that perhaps don't make the squad and that potentially might move on. But you can't do that unless you are bringing in a squad that gives you the right numbers to be able to compete this season."