Albion had a "rethink" over letting Billy Gilmour join Napoli.

But they eventually decided they could not stand in his way as he eyed a move to the Serie A giants.

Gilmour completed his move on deadline night, 72 hours after Albion's new midfielder Matt O'Riley suffered an ankle injury on his debut.

Albion chairman Tony Bloom said the Seagulls had stuck to their word in letting Gilmour go.

He added: “Let’s not forget, we’ve got other players. Jakub (Moder) obviously had a terrible time with injuries, but he’s now back.

“Yasin (Ayari) did brilliantly against Arsenal. So we do have strength in midfield.

“There’s all these things to take into account, but there’s no doubt after the horror challenge against Crawley for Matt, devastated for him, we as a club did have a rethink of that but we still thought, Billy going to Napoli, that’s what was agreed beforehand.

“We weren’t going to stand in his way for that.”