Krul relishing battle to be number one

The 29-year-old goalkeeper had loan spells at Ajax and AZ Alkmaar last season after a cruciate knee injury sustained while playing for Holland ruled him out for a year.

Krul has joined Albion on loan from Newcastle and admitted the lure of working under Chris Hughton again was a factor in joining.

He said: "I'm really excited, it's a great club, a great opportunity and I'm really looking forward to the challenge ahead.

"It's going to be a long, hard season, we know that but I'm excited to be part of it.

"It was an easy decision after I heard about the serious interest. I went on loan last year because of my injury and I needed a year to really get back to where I needed to be. I used my loans in Holland for that and I'm back now and I'm raring to go.

"When the opportunity came and I heard Brighton were seriously interested, it wasn't a difficult decision because I know Chris Hughton very well from my time at Newcastle and I've been following Brighton over the last couple of years. They've made some great steps and I'm really impressed with the facilities here."

Krul will battle it out with Mathew Ryan and Niki Maenpaa to be number one and said: "Mathew Ryan is a great goalkeeper and Niki Maenpaa is here as well. It's going to be a good challenge for me.

"I'm not taking anything for granted but I'm just pleased that I'm at a club now where you get a fair chance. That's all I want now, I'm back fit and ready to show people I'm back to where I was."

On working with Hughton again, Krul, who has eight caps for Holland, said: "A manager is really important and I know what I'm going to get with Chris. He gives everybody their fair share of opportunities and I like that.

"At Newcastle, he built a togetherness which is really important in the Premier League. You need a mentality to stick together and he definitely managed that really well when we won the Championship with Newcastle."