Has Albion's transfer window been under-estimated?

Not necessarily by those forecasting how they will fare this term.

Until I saw a tweet from a Manchester Evening News reporter yesterday, I hadn’t noticed anyone predicting the Seagulls will go down.

Not seriously, at least. Not if you exclude Leeds fans on social media disappointed not to see Ben White return.

The popular prediction for Albion in their fourth Premier League season is for somewhere between halfway and serious trouble.

That could conceivably mean a highest ever league placing of 12th or better in the top flight.

That would appear about right if Albion play something like they did in the restart fixtures, when they averaged two points per game against teams not from Manchester or Anfield.

The big requirements are that they become more efficient in terms of securing results than they were before lockdown and that players make the improvements expected of them.

It is easy to argue that most of Albion’s likely frontline players have to reach their peak of their powers.

Summer signings Adam Lallana and Joel Veltman are obvious exceptions.

But the fact they HAVE scaled the heights is among the factors that will make them so valuable on and off the pitch.

Where Albion have been under-estimated, I saw it suggested yesterday, was in their transfer work.

That the so far unsuccessful attempt to add a striker was overshadowing other good work.

Graham Potter seems to speak about the "silver bullet" as a mythical figure. It's not that easy to find a Prem-ready goal machine on the money Albion have, drop him in and watch him do his magic.

Any striker who comes in will still need to be developed, will still require patience. It's unlikely he will be a "silver bullet" and he should not be referred to as such.

The comment in question, on our live online report from Potter’s pre-Chelsea press conference, was left by a reader calling him or herself Albion In Staffs.

It was largely in response to the fans’ forum on Thursday.

It read: “I think it’s too easy to focus on what we possibly haven’t done in the transfer market yet and overlook the work that’s already been done to improve the squad.

“So far, we’ve signed an England international from the league champions, a Dutch international from the Dutch champions and have incorporated a defender that another club was willing to pay £25 million for.

“Ben White is effectively a new signing and, had we been the team that had paid £25 million for the privilege, I’m sure we would have been talking in glowing terms about our summer business.

“More to come? Possibly, but let’s not under-estimate what’s been done already.”

All of which is true. Or almost all. (Would Albion have paid £25 million for White given their current squad if he were not their player?).

And that does not even include the improvement that is expected of Albion’s second-year Prem players - or third year in the case of Yves Bissouma.

Or even the fact that Steven Alzate now appears to be over his nagging injury problems.

Jayson Molumby might also be ‘a new signing’ in the same way as White.

But there is no doubting that, ideally, Albion would have a striker on board now.

Prices have not fallen as much as might have been expected post-lockdown, certainly not when it comes to goal-getters.

Maybe that financial aftershock will not kick in until next year because we are a long way from being out of testing times yet.

Potter said: “Transfer windows are part of the noise of the game.

“I think sometimes we forget we have got good players here and the job of the club and the job of myself should always be to try and improve those.

“You talk about strikers, I’d rather talk about improving Neal Maupay and how he can get from ten goals to 20 goals.

“How does Aaron Connolly get from three goals to five goals or ten goals or 15 goals?

“Or Leo Trossard to add more goals, or Alireza (Jahanbakhsh) to get more goals.

“It sounds like an easy solution that there’s just a magic centre-forward out there who is going to fix all our problems. The reality of it is it’s not like that. We have to always work with the players.”

In the meantime, Albion have let go players who were valuable squad members but were not enjoying a lot of, if any, playing time.

Then there is Aaron Mooy. No sums have been confirmed regarding his departure to China in accordance with a buyout clause Albion took on from his previous club Huddersfield.

What we do know is they did not complete the deal until they were comfortable in terms of their own midfield resources.

A well-placed source has told The Argus the Seagulls made “a very healthy profit on the deal” and one which has been under-stated in reports.

So now bring on the real thing as Chelsea visit for the third time in 2020.

Albion won’t have the help of their fans, be it 27,000 struggling to fully wake up on New Year’s Day lunchtime or 2,500 ready to cheer every nice pass and semi-threatening attack after six months of football famine.

They might not benefit from a once-in-a-lifetime overhead kick or a slightly soft penalty to get them back on level terms if they go behind.

The result won’t tell us all we want to know about the season ahead, although it might offer indications.

Bissouma can excite - but he hasn't hit his best yet

And the window will not close when the matches start.

In a Twitter reply, Albion season ticket holder Colin Curryer told me: “There might not be a magic solution, but I’m pretty sure if you dropped a Premier League striker into the squad it would undoubtedly make us more competitive.”

That’s a decent summary too. Albion know that. That gleaming “silver bullet” might not actually exist but a new striker is still being sought.

In the meantime, they can still polish what they already have.