Brighton boss cautious over ‘early’ Lamptey return

Brighton manager Graham Potter is not in a hurry to use Ghanaian defender Tariq Lamptey.

Lamptey, 20, missed the Seagulls’ opening 0-0 friendly draw against Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on Saturday, July 24, 2021.

The full-back had only returned to training recently following surgery on a hamstring injury which had kept him out since December.

However, manager Potter is wary of throwing the youngster in the game as he believes it’s too early for him.

“It's a little bit slower than we would like and probably he would like but with the nature of his surgery and the injury, we need to make sure that he's right rather than putting any timescale on it," Potter said.

“He's making progress but not as fast as we and he would like.”

“It's important that we just stay patient and do the right things for him, make sure we finish off this last stage of his rehab in a good way, because it's not necessarily about being available for the first game, it's about being available for as many games as he can in the season."

Brighton starts the Premier League season at Burnley on August 14.

The former Chelsea academy prospect only played 11 of the 38 league games due to hamstring trouble.