Brighton are gently pushing a glass ceiling that Newcastle have tried to break through

Brighton & Hove Albion have been preparing for this season's successes for some time, and now all of their long term plans can come to fruition.

The superlatives keep coming, and a short break for the EFL Cup final didn't seem to hurt Brighton & Hove Albion. A 1-0 win at Stoke to claim a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals and a 4-0 thrashing of West Ham United in the Premier League as many around them in the table crumbled were a perfect few days for Sussex club, and a longer term view of what they have achieved offers insight into how they got here in the first place.

This is Brighton's sixth consecutive season in the Premier League, and the arc of their net transfer spending over that period sells a story. Five years ago they recorded a loss of £65.26m, but since then those figures have slowly reversed, falling to £47.27m in 2020 and £7.01m in 2021 before starting to turn a profit since then, £3.11m in 2021 and £72.96m in 2022. As the team's fortunes improved on the land, she was able to sell for more. Heavy losses slowly turned into a modest, then heavy profit.

And although they have lost almost £43.5m in player sales over this period, their figures compare extremely positively to those of others over the same period. Of all the current 20 Premier League clubs, only Brentford have better numbers over the past five years, having lost just £790,000. Of the clubs close to them in the current table, Spurs lost £335.88m, Newcastle lost £353.6m, Fulham lost £197.11m and Chelsea lost £701m. £.97 million over the same period.

Perhaps the most shocking difference comes from Newcastle. Brighton remain three points and three places below them in the Premier League table, but victory in their current fixture would leave them separated only by goal difference. And while Newcastle's player losses seem small compared to Chelsea's, it's also worth remembering that almost half - £162.5million - came in the last year alone, while Brighton was making a profit of nearly £73 million.

It's not just that Brighton are now able to play clean and tidy football. They must now be seen as contenders, not just for a European spot by the end of the season, but possibly even a Champions League place. Much will be said about how Liverpool are 'back' based on their recent performances, but this season's Brighton side haven't really gone anywhere in the first place, despite losing their manager, D much of his behind-the-scenes staff, some key players and their Director of Football over the past few months.

Newcastle aren't the only team above them they have games in progress for. How Spurs still cling to fourth place is one of this season's most enduring mysteries, but Brighton have three games on their hands and if they win all three, they would revise a seven-point gap, moving them to fourth in the table and last in the Champions League. Brighton fans may not want to dare to dream, but luck is now far from impossible.

It doesn't stop there either. The FA Cup win at Stoke may not have caused too many gasps of disbelief across the country, but it was vital. With an upcoming home game against League Two Grimsby Town in the quarter-finals, they have an exc...