Roberto De Zerbi came prepared for his press conference yesterday.

He knew he would be asked about the agreement to sell Moises Caicedo to Liverpool for a British record £111 million and told reporters he would answer just one question on the subject.

He had a good line, too, about big clubs being able to buy Albion’s players but not their soul and spirit.

The media lapped it up, not least ourselves.

A breaking news story, some social media, a nice graphic – we gave that quote the full treatment (short of getting mugs and T-shirts printed).

And there is no doubt De Zerbi was right.

Albion’s heartbeat from the chairman, through the head coach himself and skipper Lewis Dunk remains as strong and as proud as ever.

But losing two world class midfielders of the influence of Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo is huge.

Albion and their fans will know that.

At one stage there was a feeling around the club that Caicedo would stay.

So there has to be some disappointment we will not see him – or indeed either midfielder – tackling the Europa League with the Seagulls.

You can’t celebrate the huge fee brought in by the Ecuadorean on the one hand and say he won’t be missed on the other.

So, even as social media started to buzz with suggestions of a desperate face-saving attempt by Chelsea to salvage the deal, the thoughts of Albion fans – and those in high places at the club – will have been on how the midfield engine room looks in the months ahead.

Chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber reminded fans at the BBC Sussex forum on Thursday that Albion did good business early in the summer.

In terms of midfield, Mo Dahoud and James Milner are the relevant players there, along with the return from loan of Steven Alzate.

If we have learnt something over the last two years or so, it is there are ways to improve a team apart from signing players.

The message from Albion appears to be that they would be prepared to go with what they have now.

An attempt to bring in Mohammed Kudus – not necessarily a like-for-like midfield replacement, admittedly – has stalled, it seems irretrievably, at the player’s end after Albion had reached agreement with Ajax.

But Albion are too clever to give out even a hint of a message which effectively says: "We are about to receive the third biggest transfer fee ever paid in world football and we really need to sign your player."

They will no doubt keep assessing the market.

Remember, for the additions they have made, they have also lost Yves Bissouma and Enock Mwepu in that midfield area in the last year-and-a-bit.

Of the two powerhouses to have left them this summer, Caicedo looks more tricky to replace than Mac Allister based on the profile of players Albion have at the moment.

And that is bearing in mind that the one game which both men started on the bench, at home to Wolves, ended in a 6-0 win.

A recent highlights video focussing on Caicedo featured an awful lot of ball-winning or goal-saving challenges.

For all the talented passers Albion have, for all the midfielders very happy to receive the ball in tight areas and use it well, do they possess that combative, protective figure?

Asked about the challenge facing the current midfielders, De Zerbi said: “I can’t answer until the end of the transfer market, because we haven’t finished the transfer market and we can bring in another midfielder.

“At the moment I can answer that Pascal Gross, Gilmour and Alzate - Ayari okay but he is very young - they are very good players.

“We have to wait to expect a little bit more of Dahoud, because last year he played ten games. At the end of the transfer market I can answer better.

“Billy Gilmour has become a very important player. He’s improving. He’s a potential leader, Scottish player.”

De Zerbi believes he can use Milner in midfield or either full-back berth.

Of course what looked a straightforward transfer story yesterday morning was somewhat muddied by Chelsea’s reported attempt to rescue a deal which had been theirs for the taking.

There has been no lack of social media offerings from those with interest in Chelsea and/or Caicedo in the past weeks.

Even if Caicedo did end up at Stamford Bridge, it would not change the fact Albion had two of the so-called “big six” battling it out to spend a British record fee for a player they signed for about £5 million and then loaned to Beerschot.

Reports suggested Caicedo preferred Chelsea even though, from the football perspective, Liverpool look the better bet.

Although they under-achieved last season, the Reds turned things around in the later stages.

A strong end to one season is often a sign the next campaign will go well.

Liverpool had the second-best record in the Premier League across the second half of last season, behind only Manchester City.

The move would see Caicedo renew that formidable link-up with Mac Allister.

By contrast, that same table for the second half of last season had Chelsea in 18th place.

No one quite knows what will happen as they continue life post-Abramovich.

It cannot be taken for granted that they will return to previous lofty heights after one season of “transition”.

The sort of heights Caicedo will have seen as a boy when following the Champions League from across the Atlantic.

One wonders whether Caicedo wanted a move to London rather than to Chelsea specifically.

For De Zerbi, though, the job now is getting the squad ready for what he believes can be a 60-match season.

He said: “We don’t have enough for the start of the season.

“We have to complete the squad.

“We have to bring in other players, I don’t know how many.

“I want players who want to come here.

“We are Brighton, we achieved a big target.

“What we achieved was the same as Liverpool and better than Chelsea.

“But it’s history. I would like players who are proud to play in Brighton, because we can’t forget or lose the most important thing, and that’s our soul and spirit.

“Not the coach or the quality of the player.

“That is not enough to achieve the big, big target.”