Missing out on Alireza Jahanbakhsh emphasises the extra difficulty facing Albion as they try to rebuild the squad to return the club to the upper echelons of the Championship.

It is more about the transfer alley than Ali’s rejection off the back of such a dismal campaign.

Remove the blue and white blinkers for a moment and look at the situation from a potential signing’s perspective.

A wonderful stadium and training facilities are a bonus but most players care most about the size of the deal on offer and the potential for success with their future employer.

Which one matters more will vary from player to player but Albion’s tumble down the table last season has damaged the extent to which an ‘outsider’ looks upon them as an attractive proposition.

So Jahanbakhsh can be forgiven for saying thanks but no thanks to a club which has gone from genuine Premier League candidates to one involved in an ugly fight for survival from the drop to League One throughout last season.

The Iranian international winger’s representative Amir Hashemi, quoted in Holland by De Telegraaf, said: “Alireza wants to develop further and the style of play in The Championship would not help.

“Brighton wanted a quick decision to be made. Ali, however, needs time to ponder his future. Perhaps he will think differently in about four weeks, but right now he can absolutely not say yes.”

Hashemi is doing his job, hawking his client’s availability around Europe, trying to get the best deal for him to suit both the 21-year-old’s pockets and playing ambitions.

Albion are doing their job too. They have already moved on to other targets.

The recruitment strategy has changed since the sacking of head of football David Burke at Christmas, hot on the heels of Sami Hyypia’s resignation as manager.

The target lists tended to be top-heavy, relying on landing one of those right at the top and then having to settle for a considerably inferior option if numbers one, two, or even three were beyond capture.

For example, in January 2014, Oscar Garcia wanted Lewis Grabban, he ended up with David Rodriguez.

Jahanbakhsh must have been on top, or at least very close to the top, of the wish list of wingers.

Otherwise Albion would not have made a substantial bid of around £1.4 million, which was accepted by Jahanbakhsh’s Dutch club NEC Nijmegen.

According to a well-placed source, they nevertheless have other wing options they rate on a similar level.

Most striking of all about Hashemi’s remarks is that Albion “wanted a quick decision to be made”.

This supports another shift in recruitment policy since Burke’s departure. Remember last summer when the Stephen Ward deal was hijacked by Burnley at the eleventh hour?

That sort of thing can still happen. It is the nature of the transfer market beast but it is less likely to happen now that Albion are working to a strict timetable on a number of deals. If targets prevaricate for too long they have sufficient confidence in the strength in depth of their target lists to turn their attentions elsewhere.

The timetable, you would hope, takes into account a week-long training camp in the French Alps early next month.

He wears a suit on matchdays but Chris Hughton is very much a tracksuit manager, preferring to take the lead role in training sessions.

The trip to the mountains will be a good opportunity to integrate new signings and develop squad bonding, another important factor if Albion are to rediscover their mojo.

Non-internationals reported back on Friday for fitness tests. The punishment for failure is extra work next week, when Hughton is back behind his desk after a second family vacation. The reward for passing is to return with the rest next Friday.

After last season’s near-disaster Albion are playing catch-up. They need a deep cleanse, others are just tinkering around the edges.

Derby’s capture of Andreas Weimann from Aston Villa is eyecatching, the signing by Wolves of former Portsmouth prospect Jed Wallace for £275,000 a bargain.

It helps, as Albion are discovering, if you were towards the right end of the table last season.

There is still plenty of time for Hughton and his recruitment team to have their plans in place but the key date is August 8, when Nottingham Forest arrive at the Amex, not 6pm on September 1 when the transfer window shuts.

More than a tenth of the Championship season will already be over by then.