Brighton’s contract talks with Kaoru Mitoma and Jan Paul van Hecke
Fabian Hurzeler has revealed both Jan Paul van Hecke and Kaoru Mitoma know their importance to the club as they move towards the final season of current deals.
But he has urged them to maintain focus on their daily work and match-by-match performances.
Van Hecke is a certain stater as the Seagulls face Liverpool at the Amex while Mitoma is back in contention after an ankle issue.
Asked about any contract talks, head coach Hurzeler told a press conference on Friday morning: “You can be sure that we are there in a very transparent exchange with the players.
“I think the players know where they stand.
“We know what we want from them. They know what we want from them.
“So therefore, I think it’s very important to be very transparent, to be clear about the future, but the most important in football is always to be now, in the present.
“The present is the only thing what we can control, what the players can control.
“In the end, every player has a vision, has a goal in their career.
“But it’s not important to chase the dream. The dream will come to you if you are excellent today if you are excellent tomorrow, if you keep controlling the things you can control and try to be the best version of yourself every day.
“Then you will see what happens, but I think it’s very important to stay in the present, to not focus too much on the future, because the future you can’t influence.
You can impact the day-to-day. You can influence the day-to-day.
“That’s the only thing I focus on and where the player focus on as well.”
Asked whether it was possible they could sign new deals, Hurzeler replied: “In football, like we all know, it’s definitely everything possible.
“I think both know that I really enjoy working with them.
“They are both very important players for this club. We don’t have to hide this opinion.
“We should be quite honest about this but, in the end, you can only impact certain things and there are always two sides – the club side, the player side.
“But I think they all know what they have playing for Brighton.
“They all know that Brighton gave them the opportunity to develop, gave them an opportunity to play on the highest level in the best league in the world and therefore let’s see what happens.”