Albion are closing in on adding another striker to the squad before next Wednesday’s transfer deadline.

Manager Gus Poyet is optimistic about building on the capture earlier this week of Swansea midfielder Ryan Harley and is now having to turn away players eager to join the soaring Seagulls.

Poyet said of his striker hunt: “We are getting there. Ryan Harley was a very long two weeks, forwards and backwards, so you never know. I’m quite confident.”

Poyet has become more hands-on again in player recruitment following the brief reign of John Stephenson as head of football operations and the summer return to Spain of former chief scout Zigor Aranalde.

He said: “We are back to what we did last year without Zigor, maybe with Adie Cooper (opposition analyst) doing a little bit more and with the chairman (Tony Bloom), Ken Brown (managing director) and myself dealing with phone calls from agents and company, so my phone is burning again.

“I said last week, and it is even more the case now, there are players that are willing to come here. There’s even been a couple who it has been really difficult to say no to, because I really like them, but we don’t need anybody in that position.”