Euro place makes season a success, says Dunk

Brighton skipper Lewis Dunk says European qualification represents a season of success at the club.

Defeats by Leeds and Manchester United in the last two games left Brighton sweating on Brentford not getting an injury-time winner at Liverpool to deprive them of a place in next season's Conference League.

Rather than feel underwhelmed at the prospect of entering a third-ranked competition, Dunk believes it is a measure of how far Brighton have come that after never previously qualifying for Europe in their entire history, they have now done it twice in four years.

"100% it's a success" he said.

"If you look at the size of the club, should we be here? Probably not. But we overachieve a lot. That's our thing. It's hard to compete with the big boys but the manager talks about challenging the establishment and I guess we have because we're in Europe."

The season has ended with an element of uncertainty at Amex Stadium.

Coach Fabian Hurzeler offered no clarity on the future of 40-year-old James Milner, whose contract expires at the end of June.

Central defender Adam Webster is set to leave the club but Solly March and Joel Veltman are also out of contract this summer and Brighton are yet to confirm if talks are ongoing over new deals.

Brighton will start their new season slightly earlier than their Premier League rivals given they enter the Conference League at the play-off stage and play the first leg on 20 August.

Dunk thinks there are lessons to be learned from their run to the last 16 of the Europa League in 2023-24.

"It was new to us," said the 34-year-old. "I don't think anyone in the football club really knew what was going on.

"So, now we've experienced it, we have felt it. We have to back ourselves to get to the end."