'New boys impressing and defensive frailties evident ' - Five things we learnt from Brighton's pre-season tour of the United States

The Seagulls travelled back to England over the weekend after a 13-day trip around the east coast of America whilst they took part in the Premier League Summer Series alongside Chelsea, Brentford, Newcastle, Fulham and Aston Villa.

Albion played three friendlies as a part of this pre-season tournament, entertaining the Philadelphia crowd in a 4-3 defeat to Chelsea and defeating Brentford 2-0 in Atlanta, before going on to lose their final game to Newcastle.

Brighton will play one more friendly back in England, a home tie with Rayo Vallecano on August 6, before preparing to open their Premier League campaign against newly promoted Luton at the Amex Stadium on August 12.

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Manager Roberto De Zerbi took a 32-man squad with him across the pond including new signings Joao Pedro, Mahmoud Dahoud, James Milner and Bart Verbruggen, as well as familar faces such as Karou Mitoma and Chelsea target Moises Caicedo.

Here are the five things we learnt about the Brighton team whilst they were in America.

New signings impressing

It may only be pre-season, but the new additions to the Brighton side looked to have slotted in effortselly to this De Zerbi team. Record signing Joao Pedro looks sharp, his lightning pace and trickery caused numerous problems for the Chelsea and Brentford backlines, whilst Mo Dahoud showed off his technical prowess in the middle of the park and feels like an ideal replacement for Alexis Mac Allister.

£16m shot stopper Verbruggen has provided enough evidence that he is capable of performing the ball-playing goalkeeper role, as well as demonstrating his high-level shot-stopping ability.

All three players have put down a strong claim to make their first-team debuts for the club on August 12 due to their performances in America. De Zerbi will be delighted with how the new recruits have added an extra layer of strength and depth to his squad

Simon Adingra is an exciting prospect

Whilst not technically a new signing, the tricky winger is a new addition to the Brighton team, having spent last season out on loan at Union SG.

There is a lot of hype surrounding the 21-year-old after his sparking form in the Belgium top flight last season. Based on these handful of performances for the Sussex side, it is clear to see why.

Two goals against Brentford and some kind words from his new boss means that Adingra is likely to play a key role in the Albion side next season.

Issues with leaky defence

Whilst there was lots to be excited about for Brighton going forwards, at the back a number of issues were raised in the three games played stateside.

A total of six goals were conceded, a number of which were easily avoidable, add on top of that a reckless red card for Jan Paul van Hecke against Chelsea and it was clear to see why the Albion were so desperate to sign a left-footed centre back.

The addition of Igor Julio and the re-instalment of an injured Lewis Dunk will hopefully help steady the ship. But there was certainly some causes for concern.

Young players to play a role this season

Brighton will be competing in Europe for the first-time ever next season and will face the prospect of playing a game every three days until January, meaning they will be relying on a large squad to help deal with this extended schedule of games.

On the evidence presented in the States, Brighton will look to bolster their group with the addition of youth team prospects, who looked more then capable playing against top-flight teams.

Jack Hinshelwood, Ed Turns and Cameron Peupion all got a good number of minutes and will hope to be regular features of De Zerbi’s matchday squads from August 12 onwards.

Brighton are picking up were they left off and looking to go even further

The Seagulls enjoyed their greatest-ever season last term and played some great football along the way.

From what we have seen so far this summer, the heroics of the last campaign were no fluke and De Zerbi and his team are looking to push on again this time around.

The Italian boss did not have the opportunity to work with the squad during last year’s pre-season and has used this period to further stich in the details of his style-of-play to the players.

This season, we can expect Brighton to be fitter and press higher up the pitch, whilst also continuing to play their intricate possession-based style of football, both in England and across the continent.