Brighton and Hove Albion are well within their rights to stand firm on the sale of Moises Caicedo, but the outrage surrounding Arsenal’s bidding is nonsensical.

Moises Caicedo is clearly a good player. At the age of 21, he’s established himself in the Premier League as a starter for a high-flying Brighton side, and he’s already made 28 international appearances for Ecuador.

That impressive progress drew a £55m bid from Chelsea earlier in the January window, then £60m and £70m bids from Arsenal – with talk of another on the way before Tuesday’s deadline.

So far, Brighton have turned down every offer almost immediately, insisting that Caicedo is not for sale.

There’s no doubt that the player is keen on a transfer, particularly to Arsenal.

When Brighton turned down Arsenal’s £60m bid, Caicedo posted on his social media pages to implore them to let him leave, in what would be a club-record sale.

For Brighton, a sale in the region of £70m would give them a profit of over £65m on a player they signed for next to nothing in 2021.

Yet they insist he’s not for sale.

And why should they sell? If they feel Caicedo is worth more than £70m, it’s their right to refuse such a bid.

The midfielder is under contract until 2025 with an option to extend, and the bids coming in for him keep getting larger and larger.

If Brighton think they can earn more in the summer and beyond, then more power to them.

More than that, Brighton have a genuine shot at their first-ever major silverware or European qualification this season. It’s hard to say whether Caicedo will make the difference, but it’s certainly possible he will.

Brighton may well believe that no fee is enough to put that opportunity at risk.

At the same time, the frustrating part of this saga for Arsenal fans is the way that many in the media have presented the ongoing negotiations as if the Gunners have done something wrong.

The £60m bid Arsenal placed for Caicedo was the highest bid from any club for the player at the time, despite Chelsea’s extortionate spending in the last couple of windows.

Yet that £60m bid was labelled “laughable” and “stupidly low” by Brighton journalists.

If Arsenal indeed end up offering more than £70m for Caicedo before the deadline, that would make him one of the most expensive players in his position of all time.

You could argue that Paul Pogba (£89m, Manchester United) went for more, but he was considered more of an attacking midfielder back then.

In terms of defensive midfielders, Aurelien Tchouameni (£69.4m, Real Madrid) is probably the most expensive, a figure Arsenal have already surpassed.

Far from derisory, Arsenal are bidding some of the largest amounts in the history of football. No one is saying that Brighton can’t turn it down anyway, but the bizarre hand-wringing around the deal is totally unwarranted.

Then there are those seemingly mocking Arsenal for spending big on Brighton’s best players, rather than picking these same players up at the source.

The thing about that is that Arsenal often do try to sign players directly from the smaller leagues.

Look at Leandro Trossard, who Arsenal made a move for while he was still at Genk. The player and his agent considered it, then they opted for guaranteed minutes at Brighton, something Arsenal couldn’t offer.

Then there’s Albert Sambi Lokonga, signed directly from Anderlecht, who looks to have the raw ability but is struggling to get the minutes to develop on his talent.

Gabriel Martinelli joined from Ituano and is now a starter, but he needed a few years to get to where he is now. He was fortunate that Arsenal were going through a transition period anyway, and could give him minutes while he adapted.

In their current state, Brighton can offer something Arsenal can’t, which makes it much more difficult for the Gunners to operate in the same way as them.

Arsenal are top of the Premier League and into the last-16 of the Europa League, with Mikel Arteta already having won more major trophies than Brighton have in their history.

The expectations are simply not the same in north London, and the club’s transfer business will often reflect that.

Arsenal paid more-than-fair fees to Brighton for Ben White and Leandro Trossard, they’ve made more-than-fair bids for Moises Caicedo.

If Brighton don’t want to sell, that’s up to them, but Arsenal haven’t done anything to earn the ire they’re currently facing.

It makes you wonder why the Brighton-focused media are so worked up about this to begin with.

If it’s purely about Arsenal bidding well under the valuation, then what is there to be upset about? Brighton will turn the bids down and keep the player, there’s nothing more to it.

The thing is, they surely don’t really believe that a £70m bid is laughably low.

Perhaps they’re just upset at the prospect of watching another one of their players succeeding at a bigger club.

Or maybe it just pays to farm social-media engagement from the fans of that club.

Wherever Caicedo ends up, I’ll be glad to let the Brighton media fade back into relative obscurity following Tuesday’s deadline.