BOSS Chris Hughton expects Albion to see the best of record buy Jurgen Locadia next season.

The £14 million Dutchman, starting at centre-forward, was subbed after less than an hour of the closing 4-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.

Locadia’s Premier League opportunities have been limited since arriving injured from PSV Eindhoven in Eredivise in January.

Hughton told The Argus: “That’s the big difference. When you speak with him it’s the intensity of the Premier League. He has come from a division that is very technical.

“Someone who has scored a lot of goals there, a goal scorer with both feet, but here he arguably would not get the space and time he would get in Holland. But he has trained really well and we are looking forward to a really good pre-season with him.

“He will benefit from a pre-season and you have got to remember, if you look at how he has played, it has been quite sporadic.

“He is somebody we felt wouldn’t play for 90 minutes (at Liverpool), that we would get a good 60 minutes out of him where he could show the movement that he has and then change it, but it was a difficult one for him and I think we will see the best of him next season.”

Albion, beaten at champions Manchester City in their penultimate fixture last week, ended their debut season in the Premier League with an extra £11.4 million in merit prize money for finishing 15th and with 40 points, seven clear of the relegation zone.

Hughton said: “Absolutely we would have taken it. It’s difficult emotions because it’s not been a good week for us but anybody that hadn’t been here (to Anfield) before – the experience of the quality they’ve got, the stadium, the atmosphere – it’s a great one for our groups of players because they have showed all season they desperately want it again.

“And what they will be thinking is hopefully we can come here next season and be in a position where we can make a better account of ourselves.”

Liverpool warmed up for the Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kiev on May 26 with an emphatic victory to clinch fourth spot.

Hughton added: “They are a side that can do that. Probably if you looked at this moment at the most difficult away games, it would probably be Man City and Liverpool and to play them within three or four days of each other is very difficult, but they showed the quality they’ve got.

“This is a team we are all hoping are going to win the Champions League in two weeks’ time. That’s the level and we fell short of that level.”