Albion believe they can go straight back into Europe – after relishing their first taste of UEFA competition.

The Seagulls topped their group in the Europa League last term before bowing out in a tough draw against AS Roma.

Tony Bloom believes they can be better for that experience and get back on the international scene.

The Albion chairman said: “Our long-term vision for the club, for the men’s team, of top ten doesn’t change.

“But, certainly for this season, we think we’ve got a great chance of qualifying for Europe.

“We had an amazing time in Europe last season.

“We think we can do the same this season.

“There’s no doubt that with seven of our competitors playing in Europe and a revamped Europe where there’s more games, it certainly gives teams like Brighton a better chance of competing in the Premier League.”

Albion went into Europe having lost their midfield engine room of Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo, and were then hit by injuries.

That led to a feeling that they were not as strong as they might have been when they faced their unprecedented challenge.

But Bloom said: “I think we were very well-equipped for Europe last season.

“We had a brilliant squad of players.

“We had, like many other clubs, regularly nine or ten players out injured during the season.

“You can’t account for that.

“You can’t have a squad of 30 players, or we wouldn’t want to have that, because you have got too many players, if you don’t have many injuries, who just never get a look-in.

“A lot of the players were coming back during January and February, which is why there wasn’t a significant need to bring in players then, and again we were a bit unfortunate that during February, March, April, we got a lot of new injuries.

“That combined with playing so many European games made it a really difficult season, last season.

“But we still competed well, we still finished 11h. Back in the day that would have been considered a brilliant season.

“Overall I think we did well considering the circumstances.”