Brighton deputy chairman Paul Barber says they wouldn’t have sold Moises Caicedo for any amount of money in January, as he’s a “critical player” for them.

Arsenal pushed to try and sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton in the January transfer window, submitting a couple of bids in the final few days.

Yet Brighton immediately turned each offer down. According to club CEO Paul Barber, it didn’t matter how much the Gunners offered, the answer would have been the same anyway.

“In the case of [Moises] Caicedo, it may well have been right for the club that wanted him, it may well have been right for him personally but it wasn’t right for our club and so the answer was no and he stayed,” Barber said.

“There was no amount of money during January that was going to allow us or commit us to parting company with Moises [Caicedo].

“It was a critical player, we’re sixth in the Premier League, we are going well.

“We want to try and finish as high as we possibly can because we have an opportunity for the first time in our history to do even better than we have done previously, which was finishing ninth in the Premier League.”

On deadline day, Arsenal resigned themselves to the fact that Brighton’s not-for-sale stance on Caicedo meant their January hopes of signing him were done, pushing to sign Jorginho from Chelsea for midfield cover.

Reports suggested the club were conscious of the damage to their relationship with the Seagulls if they submitted a third bid after being told the player was not for sale.

But James Benge added that Arsenal may reignite their interest in Caicedo in the summer, hence their desire to maintain good relations with Brighton.