Brighton & Hove Albion could be about give up on their pursuit of Eiran Cashin.
That’s according to the Irish Mirror, who have reported that the Seagulls are now monitoring Stephan Negru as an alternative option.
Cashin was handed his Derby County debut in February 2022 and received huge praise from Wayne Rooney. He went onto be named as the Rams’ Young Player of the Season as he made 43 appearances in League One last season and has become a key player under Paul Warne.
His impressive performances for the club led to increasing interest from Brighton this summer, with the Premier League outfit seeing a number of bids rejected in recent weeks.
It’s unclear how much Brighton are willing to pay for Cashin but they are said to be preparing one final bid before they turn their attention elsewhere, while The Telegraph have claimed that Derby will only consider bids in excess of £3 million.
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Brighton are looking at Negru as an alternative to Eiran Cashin
Despite making over £150 million in profit so far this summer, the Seagulls clearly don’t want to overspend on the 21-year-old and are already looking to Negru at Oxford United.
The defender only made his senior debut for The U’s in April after joining from Shelbourne last year, so would provide a much cheaper option for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Warne will be delighted if he can keep hold of Cashin, while he already looks set to retain Max Bird following his injury that ended interest from Hull City.
The Rams will still have to hold off one more bid from Brighton and hope the south coast club don’t significantly improve their fee, but Derby are certainly under no pressure to sell.