Albion have increased their French connection by landing another cut-price winger to raid with Sebastien Carole.

Alexandre Frutos, a former team-mate of Carole, has joined the Seagulls on a free transfer from French Division One side FC Metz.

The 23-year-old signed a two-year contract shortly before yesterday's transfer deadline.

Albion have also clarified the goalkeeping position by extending Wayne Henderson's loan from Aston Villa for a further two months.

Frutos is the third Frenchman to arrive at Withdean in a matter of weeks.

Right winger Carole was signed from Monaco, also on a free transfer for two years, while keeper Florent Chaigneau is on a year-long loan from Rennes.

Frutos played alongside Carole last season when they were both on loan to French Division Two side Chateauroux.

Carole was outstanding in Monday's first win of the season at home to Plymouth.

Manager Mark McGhee is hoping Frutos proves to be a similar bargain on the opposite flank as he continues to rebuild the squad following the big money departures of Adam Virgo to Celtic and Dan Harding to Leeds.

McGhee said: "Alex has the same sort of quality as Seb. He's slightly different, more of a straight-line runner than a total footballer like Seb tends to be, but we hope he's going to give us another dimension.

"I said at the start of the season when we signed Colin Kazim-Richards that we wanted to invest our money as opposed to spend it, and I think we're doing it with players like Alexandre.

"As we have already shown with Seb, you can get value for money and you can improve your team without spending millions of pounds."

Frutos, a product of the youth system at Metz, scored three times for them in 65 appearances. He was also on target twice in 26 outings for Chateauroux.

"I am very happy to be here, and I will do my best for my new club," he said. "Brighton is a nice town, my wife is coming with me and so I am happy."

Frutos returned to France last night and will train with his new team-mates for the first time on Monday.

He hopes to make his debut in English football for Albion in their next Championship fixture at Leeds on September 10.

Meanwhile, Henderson wishes he could stay longer than November.

The Republic of Ireland keeper and Albion wanted to turn the deal into a long-term loan, which would have kept him at the club until the next transfer window in January.

Villa refused as they would have been denied the option of recalling him.

Henderson said: "I'm pleased to be staying but it's frustrating because I won't be getting as many games as I would have if I had stayed until Christmas.

"The club (Villa) aren't in the position to do that, so I've had to jump at the chance of two months."

Albion refused to let Adam El-Abd go out on loan yesterday. They need the youngster as defensive cover, with Jason Dodd injured and McGhee unable to sign another central defender.

McGhee cannot now make any permanent signings until the transfer window re-opens next year, although loan deals are still permitted.