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'Welbeck, March, Van Hecke' - Fabian Hurzeler's response to Brighton sales says everything about new transfer policy Brighton and Hove Albion have tweaked their transfer policy during the summer window Brighton have sold plenty of experience this summer. Dutch international defender Jan Paul van Hecke moved to Tottenham for £52m and Danny Welbeck, 35, made a surprise and controversial move to Brighton's "best customers" Chelsea. Joel Veltman, 34, left on the expiration his contract to join West Ham, James Milner, 40, retired, Adam Webster, 31, and Solly March, 32, both departed without new deals after lengthy injury issues. Some fans are concerned that Brighton will lack leadership this season as they embark on Uefa Conference League and Premier League football this campaign. Who has arrived It has not all been departures during the summer window, in fact Brighton have been pretty active in recruitment, especially in defensive areas. Pascal Struijk, 26, arrived from Leeds for £18m and has plenty of top flight experience. Austrian international Michael Svoboda, 27, joined from Venezia and full back Costinha, 26, signed for around £8m from Olympiacos. All players are in their "peak years" which is a shift in transfer policy from Brighton, who previously focused on younger players with the potential improve and add sell-on value. Potential leaders Brighton's existing players have also amassed greater experience from the past two seasons or so, which could soften the blow of losing Veltman, Milner, Webster, March and Welbeck. Lewis Dunk, 34, and Pascal Gross, 35, remain but the likes of Bart Verbruggen, Ferdi Kadioglu, Jack Hinshelwood, Diego Gomez and Georginio can all take greater responsibility and try to set standards in the way the others used to. What Fabian Hurzeler said I spoke to Fabian Hurzeler after the friendly win against Roma and asked if he felt Brighton had enough experience after the mass of exits. He gave quite a lengthy and detailed answer. "It's very important to understand we can't replace the players one-to-one," he told Sussex World. "You have to replace them as a team. That means everyone has to step up. I demand from every player to take more ownership, to take more responsibility. "Of course, these characters, they know the Premier League. Bart Verbruggen and Jack Hinshelwood. Georginio is here two years, Babis (Kostoulas) is here one year. "They know the demands of the Premier League. They know what it means to be successful. James Milner was the best Hurzeler continued: "We need to build this environment where they can step up, where they can take responsibility. It won't happen overnight. For example, James Milner, when he finished, was the best leader he ever was. "But when he was age 23, 24, he still was learning, keep learning, keep learning. So we need to give them the platform where they can do this. We need to give them the help where they can do this, the support, but we also need to challenge them. "I'm 100 per cent sure when we give them the time and give them the environment where they can do it, long term it will pay off." Do you think you have enough experience? Hurzeler responded to Sussex World: "Yeah, we shouldn't forget that we added some players in a really good football age. We have players, Svoboda, Struijk, age 26, 27. “Kadioglu, age 26, Mats Wieffer, age 26. These are players who are in a perfect football age. "Then we have still Jason Steele, Pascal Gross, we have Dunk. We have a good balance. We have a really good balance.” You don't have to be old to have experience The 32-year-old German added: "Experience doesn't always mean you're old. Experience means what kind of experience you did in the Premier League. And that's for me experience. "When you play several games, then you gain more and more experience. And I think that's very important in the Premier League, that players understand what the demands are. And in the end, small margins will make the difference. "And the more players we have already play in the Premier League, it will help us. "And then we have these add-ons. And I think these add-ons are so important because they give us new perspective, they give us new energy, they give us new flexibility. "We have this foundation and we don't have to rebuild this foundation. We just get some great adds on and that's what we try to use."