Brighton chief Paul Barber admits he's spoken to Arsenal loan goalkeeper Mat Ryan about a recent interview.

Ryan, who joined Arsenal on loan until the end of the season last month, did an interview with Optus sport where he was critical of manager Graham Potter.

In the fans forum last night Barber revealed that he had spoken to the Australian international, who was disappointed by some of the comments he had made recently.

He said: “I exchanged texts with Maty last night. He did an interview with Australian TV, where he made one or two comments, he really wasn't happy with afterwards in terms of the context in which they came across.

“He has a huge amount of affection for this football club and for the fans of this club.

“Maty is very popular within the dressing room and all of us in the backroom of the club and very popular with all of the coaching staff.

“Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen in football when a player loses their place at the club and eventually for him, he just wanted to have an opportunity to play somewhere else.

“Then a big club like Arsenal comes along and it takes a lot for me to say Arsenal is a big club given my background.

“All I can say is good luck to Maty and let's hope that it works out for him."

Despite recent events, Barber insisted that the keeper will always be welcome back at Albion.

He is quote by The Argus: “He is always welcome back at Brighton, he is welcome to come back and see us whatever happens as he is currently on loan at Arsenal.

“As I say his affection for our club and the fans of this club is fantastic and goes very deep.

“So, I think people cannot forget we gave him the opportunity to play in the Premier League, brought him in from Valencia at the start of our life in the Premier League if you like and he did a fantastic job in three seasons, so we have been very lucky."