Albion boss Chris Hughton believes there is even better to come from his first permanent signing Beram Kayal.

Kayal’s promotion to the starting line-up has coincided with a four-match unbeaten run for the Seagulls since he scored on his debut as a late substitute in the home defeat by Nottingham Forest.

Hughton says it is not solely down to the Israeli midfielder but he has praised the influence of his £325,000 buy from Celtic, an instant hit with supporters.

The manager told The Argus: “I think he’s been part of a good, stable team in the last four games.

“It wouldn’t be right for me to put recent results down to one person but he’s had a good influence and he’s a player that is showing at this moment the reasons why we brought him in.

“It’s been a really good team effort in the last four games and he’s been very much part of that. He is fitting in very well but they are a good group here.

“He is a good individual. he wants to win, but this has also given him an opportunity to play.

“This is somebody who, for whatever reason over the last season or so, has played nowhere near the amount of football he wanted to so he’s very happy at the moment. We certainly hope there’s more to come. We’ve tried to manage it the best way. We’ve taken him off in some of the games because of the difficulty of going from not playing much football to then nigh on two games a week.”

Kayal comes face to face at Bolton Wanderers tomorrow with Neil Lennon, his former boss at Celtic.

The Argus revealed last month that Albion staved off late competition from Bolton to secure Kayal’s signature.

Hughton said: “I’m not sure about that but I’m quite sure there certainly would have been interest and credit to Beram and his people. Once he was aware that we were interested he was very keen to come.

“He certainly wanted to stay in as higher level as he can and it’s certainly an advantage for him to stay on ‘home’ soil as such, having played up in Scotland for years. He was very keen to come to England.”