Socceroos coach warns struggling Brighton keeper Maty Ryan

Ryan was dropped last Wednesday for the 0-0 draw at Fulham in favour of up and coming young Spanish keeper Robert Sanchez.

Ryan paid the price for a shaky display in the previous match at Leicester where Brighton suffered a painful 3-0 loss.

It's the second time this season the Australian international has been dropped as Sanchez also replaced Ryan for the narrow 2-1 loss at Tottenham last month.

The 28-year-old was a reliable presence for Albion last campaign and he'd previously missed only one Premier League match outside of international commitments since signing a five-year deal in 2017.

The emergence of 6ft 6in Sanchez, who was on loan at League One Rochdale last season, means Ryan's future is far from certain.

“Who knows what will happen,” said Meulensteen, who is the assistant coach with the Australian national team.

“From Maty’s perspective he’ll need to look at the situation and perhaps (it will reach a point) where he feels he may need to move on, I don’t know.

“There’s obviously a transfer window around the corner and if it becomes clear Brighton want to take a different course, he’s the type of goalkeeper who will generate a lot of interest.

“He’ll want to keep playing at his age (28), especially with a lot of international football hopefully just around the corner.”

Spanish goalkeeper Sanchez has progressed through the academy at Brighton. He performed well at Tottenham and Fulham and the 23-year-old is set to keep his place for Sunday's clash against Sheffield United.

However, Meulensteen believes Ryan could still force his way back and have a future in the Premier League with Albion.

“Maty’s used to being the first choice at his club, and is a very experienced keeper now at Premier League level," said the Dutchman who was first team coach at Man United from 2006 to 2013.

“For now it’s a case of not drawing too many conclusions, not throwing your dummies out of the pram and just taking things game by game and see where it goes.

“What’s happened is part and parcel of football, you can’t be too shocked about it.

“These things happen, managers are entitled to try something different.

“Sanchez might get injured in the next game and everything changes again. That’s the way football is.

“Mat just needs to make sure he keeps working hard and doing what he can do in training.

“Whatever way you look at it, things will work out in the end anyway.

“The manager has made his decision for whatever reason and Sanchez did well against Fulham.

“But with young players you always get a level of inconsistency, whilst Maty has proven his worth many times over.

“Things can change very fast in football - Sanchez might be a very good keeper but the one thing Maty has is experience.”

Ryan, who is the only Aussie remaining in the Premier League, has kept two clean sheets in 11 league games and conceded 19 goals.

Brighton have played some decent football this season but results have been hard to come by. They are 16th in the league standings on 11 points from 13 matches and just two above the drop zone.

“Clubs will always look to maintain their Premier League status, and will do whatever it takes,” Meulensteen said.

"If they think Sanchez is part of the answer, then we’ll see over the next few games.

“If you look at Maty’s performances I think they’ve been good and the goals he’s conceded, there wasn’t much he could do.

“Brighton are in a bit of a catch 22. The owners want to play a certain way, which Potter wants to bring in, and that’s great.

“But playing more expansively they lose out on the defensive side, albeit they’ve been unlucky in a few games where they were by far the better team.

“Under (former coach) Chris Hughton they were very defensive and there was no playing out from the back.

“Potter has changed that - but now they find themselves with their Premier League status under pressure, and that’s when clubs sometimes backpedal.”