Brighton's Glenn Murray says Premier League 'hype' sees Championship players overlooked
Monday 20 August 2018 23:20, UK
Glenn Murray believes Premier League "hype" is a barrier to lower-tier talents realising their full potential in English football.
Murray's fine no-look finish kickstarted Brighton's shock 3-2 win over Manchester United at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
The 34-year-old, who was playing in the lower leagues up until his Premier League debut with Crystal Palace in 2013, scored 12 league goals last term as Brighton secured a 15th-place Premier League finish following their promotion.
Murray hailed Brighton boss Chris Hughton for handing him the chance to extend his top-flight career, and insisted more lower-league stars can thrive in the Premier League.
"I think there is a lot of hype around the Premier League," said Murray.
"There are players in the Championship that can play at this level comfortably, but sometimes never get the opportunity.
"Sometimes they get overlooked for maybe cheaper, foreign players. We know the English market is quite high and I think that sometimes puts clubs off.
"I have to thank Chris Hughton for giving me the opportunity to play at this level.
"You see with some of the promoted teams this year that they have got rid of some players and have brought some big names in. Thankfully our manager did not do that.
"He gave everyone that helped the club to the Premier League an opportunity in the Premier League and I think most of us have taken that opportunity."
Murray says Brighton's aim for the season is to stay in the Premier League, while also citing last term's 1-0 home win over United in May as boosting the side's top-level belief.
"It's the second season in the Premier League and it is about staying in the Premier League. That is it. Whether that's 17th, 16th, it does not matter," added Murray.
"We went into last year not knowing what was on the horizon - a lot of the players had not played in the Premier League.
"I am sure there were a lot questioning themselves and questioning how good a level they were stepping into, and I think it took us four, five or six games to start believing we belonged at this level. This year we can get going from the start.
"We obviously had good memories from the last game [against United] here. Those fond memories carried forward so we believed we could win.
"I think we know individually we are not as good as Man United, as footballers, so we know we have to work as a team. We did and thankfully we managed to get the win."
