ALBION manager Chris Hughton has refused to set a target date for Jurgen Locadia’s debut.

And he has told the new Dutch striker’s team-mates he needs their help to fire the Seagulls to Premier League safety.

Locadia, the club’s £14 million record buy from PSV Eindhoven, is continuing his recovery from a hamstring injury they were aware of when he signed. He is expected to be out for a couple more weeks.

Albion have a crucial run of games against fellow strugglers Southampton, West Ham, Stoke and Swansea after tomorrow’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Middlesbrough.

Hughton told The Argus: “I would never say (when) because I wouldn’t want to put any pressure on. At the moment he is outside, not training with the team, but he is outside training with our rehab staff.

“At the moment he doesn’t feel the injury. It’s whether he shaves a few days off and has gone through all the testing. We’re hopeful but I’d prefer not to put a date on it.”

Locadia sustained the injury for PSV against Ajax on December 10. Hughton is not concerned he will have been sidelined for around two months before his Albion baptism.

“Concern is not the word, because we knew about the injury,” Hughton said. “The reason why we have brought him in is to complement our squad. Sometimes a new player coming in can bring the best out of somebody else. This is the dynamics of a squad you put together.

“Some players come straight back in where they left off, some will take a little bit of time, these are the things we will look to find out.

“I don’t think there is that pressure. If I am looking at what the club paid for him, that has become almost the norm for a striker of this level.

“There won’t be that pressure because he will go into a squad first and a team that we expect performances from.

“The only way we will improve this form or be where we want to be at the end of the season is demand that we get performances from our players. Probably for a good period of this season we’ve managed to do that.”

Hughton watched on TV Swansea’s shock win at home to Liverpool on Monday, which has left the bottom six split by only three points. He has never been relegated in his managerial career with four clubs.

“It’s something I’d like to keep and it’s not something I think of,” he said. “The thoughts are only about doing the best job you can, making the most of the resources and players, when you lose a game try to win the next one, when the team’s down try to pick them up, when you win a game use the feel for that.”

Three of Albion’s final four games are against Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester United.

“When the fixture list came out you looked at that finish and knew it was probably one of the toughest,” Hughton said.

“That’s just fact. There isn’t any game we go into, particularly a home game, where you think you can’t get something. You always have to have that mindset but we know what the fixtures are and we know on paper the ones that you have got a better chance of getting a result from.”