Gus chases big two

The Seagulls keep coming up against obstacles in their quest to sign a powerful midfielder and a target man.

Poyet would prefer them both to be permanent signings, rather than loans like the season-long arrangement which brought defender Wayne Bridge back south from Manchester City or the temporary captures last season of strikers Billy Paynter and Sam Vokes.

Poyet, speaking after last night’s 3-0 friendly win at Dorchester, said: “We are still missing a couple of very important ones. The idea is to get one strong central midfielder and a target man up front.

“We missed that a lot. That’s why we used Billy Paynter and Sam Vokes last year. They helped us a lot. Now we are trying to get a player at the club, not on loan, but maybe to buy a player or get someone for free.

“There are not many of them. It seems like everyone is trying to do the same but I think they will come. I hope soon because we need to get them into the team and into the way we play.

“These ones are taking a bit too long. We have been really working hard on both of them and for some reason it's not happening. There is always something, either the financial side or they have got other offers or what ever but there is always a problem.

“It doesn’t look like we are going to be able to get them during the weekend. I would like to have them by at least midweek next week so they can come to Spain with us and train six or seven times, because we are going to train a lot next week.

“It depends on the quality of the player but I would like these two to be part of the next two or three years at the football club, so we are trying to do that first and if it's not possible we'll see."

Vicente has his first pre-season outing at Hastings today but Marcos Painter (hamstring), Craig Mackail-Smith (back) and Bridge (groin) will not be involved.

Poyet is not worried that Bridge has yet to make his debut and revealed: "He will play in Spain next week for sure, on Saturday against Cordoba."