NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Brighton chief executive Paul Barber said the club were “confident” in their ability to keep Roberto De Zerbi but “understood” the manager would possibly have ambitions to “take his skill base elsewhere” in the future.
De Zerbi replaced Graham Potter in September 2022, signing a four-year contract, and the Italian has since established himself as one of England’s most sought-after managers thanks to his paintings at the Amex Stadium.
Despite Brighton’s modest budget, De Zerbi led his side to sixth place in the Premier League last season to secure European football for the first time in the club’s history, betting on a taste of hot football that received widespread praise.
This season, the Seagulls sit ninth after 27 games, but that comes after the club lost three of its top stars last summer, with Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sanchez leaving for a total of around £158 million.
De Zerbi’s good fortune at Brighton has unsurprisingly caught the attention of some of England’s more sensible groups and the 44-year-old has been forced to answer questions about his long career in recent months.
Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are all credited with taking a keen interest in De Zerbi and Brighton’s chief executive. Barber knows he will likely be powerless if the former Shakhtar Donetsk and Sassuolo coach makes it clear he needs to move elsewhere.
“We don’t need to lose him, he’s an extraordinary coach, probably already one of the most productive in the world, and that will make him attractive,” Barber told The Athletic.
“But Roberto loves Brighton, he loves the club, the people, the infrastructure we have.
“And there’s a sense that the paintings he’s making are smart for him and for us.
“But it still means that at some point in the future, you may be informed of the skills you have elsewhere; That’s what we perceive. “
Barber says it’s the first time he’s noticed a manager “publicly pushing expectations” as De Zerbi did during his tenure in the Brighton dugout.
“It’s the most experience I’ve had in my career,” he added.
“Often, the president or CEO speaks publicly to give their coach some breathing room, setting expectations at one point in the hope that they will be exceeded. Roberto is the opposite.
“He comes up to me and says, ‘Why are you talking about the ten most sensible, why are you talking about the six most sensible?
“It’s the first time in my career at the club that the head coach almost encouraged me to exceed my expectations publicly.
“He believes this will push the players, them and all of us to be even better. “
According to Barber, De Zerbi has taken Brighton to “another level” since replacing Potter, but the club have a plan in place in case a rival club manages to lure the Italian away from the south coast.
“Roberto is doing a job,” he continued.
“The evolution of Graham’s [Potter’s] work, which is exceptional, plus Chris [Hughton’s] work, which is exceptional, has taken us to another level.
“This creates more of a threat, on and off the field. The threat on the court is obvious. We have a taste for very open and offensive play and possibly wouldn’t be chosen.
“Off the field, because what he’s doing is so attractive, so mediatized and so talked about, then he creates a threat for us in another way, in the sense that Roberto becomes very desirable.
“But we’re aware of this and I’ve been saying it for years: The more we do it, the more visual our teammates are on and off the court and, ironically, the more vulnerable we are to losing. “
“But we know it and we’re stupid. We perceive it, but we are confident in our ability to remain people. The contracts are good, the mechanisms to guarantee them are good.
“If other people are poached, they don’t leave quickly, nor are they profitable in some cases, and we look at a plan that we have in place for that eventuality. “
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