Albion fans could yet get to see the elusive Aleksandar Mitrovic doing his thing in front of them.

But they will be clinging to wider reasons for hope as their club step things up in the final week of the January transfer window.

The Seagulls were last night known to remain “interested” in Toon’s out-of-favour Serbian centre-forward which would appear to mean a new bid will be forthcoming.

The paths of Mitrovic and Albion have somehow managed not to cross in this season-and-a-half in which the clubs have been rivals to secure, then maintain, Premier League status.

News of a bid believed to be £8 million on Tuesday night brought mixed reaction from Albion supporters.

But, whatever the verdict on Mitrovic himself, the wider message surely has to be encouraging for the Seagulls’ increasingly concerned fanbase.

And that wider message was that Albion’s recruitment in attack was not going to stop at the record-breaking swoop for Jurgen Locadia as they bid to stay in the top flight.

This when we might have expected Locadia to be their final attacking purchase.

He offers pace and a proven goal record but is generally thought to be happier playing off a genuine target man.

That is certainly an opinion shared by ex-Albion defender Hans Kraay, who is now a leading TV pundit in the Netherlands specialising in the Eredivisie.

We know that Albion are interested in a loan for Leo Ulloa. Now comes the move for Mitrovic.

The elusive Mitrovic as far as Albion are concerned, although Paul Barber and Chris Hughton will hope that can change.

Last season, he missed the teams’ early-season fixture at St James’ Park due to concussion.

With Dwight Gayle ruled out of the return at the Amex through injury, he was expected to start - until Rafa Benitez handed the spot to Yoan Gouffran and left Mitrovic as an unused substitute.

Last September, he was completing a three-match ban when Newcastle lost 1-0 at the Amex.

And, in late December, a back injury ruled him out of the teams’ 0-0 draw by the Tyne.

He has yet to start a Premier League match this season.

The common perception up until now seems to have been that Albion needed a pacy striker, not a No.9 type more in the mould of Glenn Murray and Tomer Hemed.

And, in one respect, that is correct. They already have two such players.

But the bigger picture is they also need to keep improving their squad in all areas.

The Argus:

If you think Ulloa or Mitrovic is better than both Murray and Hemed, then they need Ulloa or Mitrovic. Or whoever else comes into the equation.

Looking around all positions, not just up front, there is also the aspect of choices, options, strength in depth.

The Seagulls have had a tight knit core of players and all went well during that initial series of 11 Premier League games in 100 days.

When the pace stepped up after the final international break, and when tougher fixtures arrived, it all went downhill.

Albion have six players who have played more than 1,800 minutes this season. Only Swansea and Leicester can equal that.

Of those, five of the Seagulls players – an ever-present trio of Dale Stephens, Lewis Dunk and Mathew Ryan plus Davy Propper and Shane Duffy - have played more than 2,000 Premier League minutes.

No other team can match that. Even Burnley, who make relatively few line-up changes from match to match, only have two men with more than 2,000 minutes in Jack Cork and Steven Defour.

Promoted Huddersfield have four men with 2,000-plus minutes, five teams have three.

At the other end of the scale, Liverpool’s most used player is Mo Salah with just 1,775 minutes.

So what of the man already on board, Locadia?

For now, he is just settling in, getting to know his team-mates, waiting for a hamstring problem picked up before Christmas against Ajax to be totally cleared.

When he is out there he will need a Mitrovic or an Ulloa type. That, at least, is Kraay’s belief.

He told The Argus: “Jurgen Locadia is a great finisher. He is right-footed (even his curlers have got great pace!) but he also scores with his left foot.

“He is not a fantastic header of a ball. He can play as a target man but is at his best from the left-hand side playing off a target man – which Brighton has not got, I think.”

That last bit might be harsh on Murray or Hemed but Albion clearly feel they could use a new main striker.

Murray himself recognised at the start of the month that most chairmen would replace all 11 players with 11 better players if they could.

It will be ten years next week since Murray became one of their most important January window signings yet when he came south from Rochdale.

The fee back then of £300,000 seems like loose change these days but was a massive deal back then.

A decade on, what we now know for sure now is, Mitrovic or not, Albion are not done in their pursuit of goals.