Albion have handed a trial to Hungarian international defender Zoltan Liptak.

The Seagulls are taking a look at the centre-half, with Tommy Elphick ruled out for the rest of the season and no comeback date for Adam El-Abd.

Liptak, 26, has been on trial with Premier League newcomers Swansea.

He has linked up with Albion for training after previous loan spells in English football with Southampton and Stevenage.

The Argus revealed on Tuesday that Elphick is facing a second operation on his ruptured Achilles.

The surgery will be carried out by the world renowned Finnish expert Sakari Orava, who operated on David Beckham when he ruptured his Achilles playing for AC Milan.

Elphick tweeted: “Hope to get my operation done by prof orava asap, the best in the world.”

Albion boss Gus Poyet said: “It’s a big shock. It is not a career-threatening injury, it’s just that we expected him to be back right now and now he is going to be out for probably another six months or what ever it is. It’s not nice, quite sad. If you have got an option to take him to the best you take him to the best.”

El-Abd has yet to feature this season due to a stress fracture of the foot.

Poyet said: “He’s had five sessions in a row without a reaction, so he is progressing slowly, but we don’t have a date. It’s going to be day by day, week by week. We were expecting them both back by September. We know what has happened with Tommy now, so I don’t want to do the same with Adam.”