Joel Veltman fears Roberto De Zerbi could still leave Brighton - despite being overlooked for the Liverpool job.

The Italian, who has placed contract talks with Amex chiefs on hold, had been heavily linked with the Anfield vacancy but Feyenoord boss Arne Slot is now poised to replace Jurgen Klopp on Merseyside next season.

The 32-year-old right-back said ahead of the visit to Bournemouth : "It's almost every year that when the gaffer is doing well, there will be big clubs waiting for him.

However, Veltman claims Brighton still have their sights on European qualification, even if they have a mountain to climb with five matches left to play.

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Veltman continued: "It's difficult to say with the games we have coming up and left to play, I don't know exactly where we are.

I know we're in 11th place obviously but the only thing I know is we play Bournemouth who are 10th and that's a nice game for us(

Experienced pro Veltman, who has Champions League experience, does not want to use injuries as an excuse for Brighton's turbulent form.

In his view, they still have enough quality to make something of their domestic season.

We're not really at our best and of course, you always want to do better.

"Despite the injuries we still have loads of quality players who can adapt to that but it's difficult to be our proper selves.

The Bournemouth game is nice, it's a 2pm kick-off and a chance to put things right.