Albion's pristine training pitches in Lancing will not have as many boots trampling over them in the next few days.

Eight members of the first team squad sitting on top of the Championshhip table are on international duty.

For manager Chris Hughton and the club that is cause for celebration - and concern.

Publicly, Hughton will welcome the multiplicity of call-ups. It is an indication that players have international quality and are performing well.

For the club it is a sign of progress. Not so long ago Albion were playing on international weekends, due to their level and the absence of players deemed worthy of representing their countries.

They should feel especially proud to have three players on England under-21s duty - Christian Walton, Jake Forster-Caskey and Solly March.

Two others (Tomer Hemed and Beram Kayal) are with Israel, skipper Gordon Greer with Scotland, Niki Maenpaa Finland and Glen Rea Republic of Ireland under-21s.

Privately, Hughton will be anxious that none of them get injured while they are away, damaging in the process Albion's Championship challenge.

That does not currently apply to Walton and Rea, out on loan to Bury and Southend respectively, although of course Albion would not wish to see them sidelined.

Greer, Kayal and Hemed in particular are key figures in Hughton's team and Maenpaa is the back-up for goalkeeper David Stockdale.

No wonder Premier League managers become irate when their star names are travelling across the globe.

It must be frustrating for the clubs as well, as their employers, when they lose the services of one or more of them to an international injury while paying them vast salaries.

The counter-argument is an injury could be picked up in training but there is no doubt the risk to those playing for their countries rises, both presently and cumulatively.

Albion will play a minimum of 49 matches in under nine months this season, 46 of them in the ultra-competitive Championship.

The internationals will play many more. This is only the first break, two more follow quickly in October and November, another in late March towards the business end of the season.

Factor in the travelling and that is considerable extra strain on bodies and minds.

Albion's far greater strength in depth, courtesy of an impressive transfer window, is comforting in this respect.

They have ready-made replacements of superior quality to last season for practically every position.

An exception is at left-back, where Gaetan Bong has begun his Albion career so stylishly.

Inigo Calderon and Liam Rosenior - full of vitality on his league debut for the Seagulls on the right side of midfield at Ipswich on Saturday - can both do a job there but are more naturally right-backs.

Based on Hughton's team selection at Walsall last week, where he made ten changes but Adam Chicksen was only on the bench, the former MK Dons prospect is not viewed as Championship cover for Bong.

Thankfully for Albion, if not the player, Bong is still in dispute with Cameroon, for "one or two" unspecified reasons, after playing for them in the 2010 World Cup.

That is one less international headache for Hughton for now, although there could be a couple more in the future.

Latest signing Elvis Manu is involved in a tug-of-war between Holland and Ghana, the country of his parents.

Bang-in-form Kazenga LuaLua was in a similar situation as a teenager at Newcastle, between England and the Democratic Republic of Congo, who will surely have taken note of the way he has started the season.

Hughton will breathe a little easier if his international contingent all walk back through the door at Lancing without a limp before the next game at home to Hull.