One statistic for Zoltan Liptak, the Hungarian international centre half on trial with Albion, stands head and shoulders above all the others.

He is 6ft 4ins tall.

If the Seagulls end up signing him, Liptak will become the tallest player in Gus Poyet's squad.

Albion will be giving away height and power against the towering likes of John Carew and Papa Bouba Diop for West Ham at The Amex on Monday.

Poyet is not about to abandon his principles by using a measuring tape as his first reference for signing a new player.

Gonzalo Jara Reyes, his Chilean loan capture from West Bromwich Albion, is after all a rather average 5ft 10ins.

There is, however, a desire from Poyet to add more presence to his Championship squad.

He admitted as much when asked how he plans to combat the physical challenge Sam Allardyce's Hammers will present.

"We've had it already, I don't think it's new," Poyet said. "We played Portsmouth away and there were big, big players in there.

"We had Millwall the other day and it has been like that at The Amex in a few of the games we have played.

"It's not my style just to go and buy 6ft 2ins players. I respect people that do that. Maybe we need one or two of them, I am not going to lie.

"We are trying to get a couple so that sometimes when you get these games you can play them but we haven't at the moment so we will try to deal with it."

*See the full story in the weekend Argus