Brighton appoint Roberto De Zerbi as new head coach
The search for Graham Potter’s successor is over. Brighton & Hove Albion have appointed Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach on a four-year contract.
De Zerbi was Tony Bloom’s number one choice to replace Potter. The Seagulls had to act quickly with Juventus said to be considering sacking the struggling Massimiliano Allegri in favour of De Zerbi.
Yes, we really are in position whereby Little Old Brighton are snatching managers desired by one of the most famous clubs in world football.
It is a far cry from the days when Steve Gritt was greeted with incorrectly spelt graffiti scrawled all over the walls of the Goldstone Ground, reading “Grit believes Bellotti bulshit”.
De Zerbi looks in many ways to be the perfect fit for Brighton. He is young, dynamic, tactically flexible and plays a possession-based style of football which should suit the squad built by Potter well.
The 43-year-old Italian has had quite the journey to reach the Premier League. He started out with Serie D amateurs Darfo Boario in 2013.
A year later, he took over Foggia in Serie C. He won the Serie C Cup and reached the promotion playoff final in his first season in charge.
In the summer of 2016, De Zerbi turned down an approach from Serie A side Crotone in favour of remaining loyal to Foggia.
That loyalty will no doubt appeal to Bloom, having seen Potter and his entire coaching team walk out at the first sign of a heap of cash.
Where Bloom’s appointment of De Zerbi as Brighton manager is unusual is that he appears something of a fiery character.
Ever since the quite spectacular falling out with Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named in 2013, the Albion have leaned towards diplomatic characters with no urge to rock the boat.
De Zerbi was sacked by Foggia after a disagreement with the board. A quick search of Roberto De Zebri GIFS on Twitter shows one of him smashing a tactics board up in a fit of rage in the dugout.
Get ready for touchline antics the likes of which we have not seen since Gus was in the dugout #BHAFC pic.twitter.com/tjHPmtCosc
— We Are Brighton (@wearebrighton) September 18, 2022
Expect fireworks in the technical area from a head coach who appears to be Antonio Conte-like rather than Potter and his geography teacher manner.
De Zerbi’s next destination post-Foggia was Palermo. It was not a good first experience of Serie A as he oversaw a seven game losing streak and failed to win a home game for three months.
Whereas Bloom and Brighton have a track record of giving managers time to overcome such barren spells, De Zerbi was sacked. Palermo’s impatience proved to be Sassuolo’s gain when they appointed De Zerbi as their new boss in the summer of 2018.
With a small budget, he led the tiny club wonderfully nicknamed the Watermelon Peel to consecutive eighth placed finishes in Serie A.
De Zerbi’s team collected the most points and scored the most Serie A goals in Sassuolo history. The 2020-21 campaign saw the Watermelon Peel hit the dizzy heights of second at one point following a stunning 2-0 success away at Napoli in which they played their illustrious hosts off the park.
They missed out on Europa Conference qualification on goal difference to Roma at the end of that campaign. De Zerbi had already announced it would be his final season with Sassuolo as he would take over Ukrainian giants Shakhtar ahead of 2021-22.
De Zerbi won the Ukraine Super Cup early in his reign and his side were top of the table when Russia launched its illegal war on the country in February 2022.
He was widely praised for remaining with Shakhtar despite the invasion, leading the club on their Global Tour for Peace which involved playing friendlies against sides from Greece, Turkey, Poland and Croatia.
If De Zerbi can survive and thrive in a war-torn country, then the pressures of the Premier League should be a walk in the park in comparison.
All of De Zebri’s coaching staff left Shakhtar with him. His backroom team at the Albion is set to be made up of those he worked with so successfully in Ukraine and with Sassuolo – including Vincenzo Teresa, who as Seagulls Central on Twitter have quite rightly pointed out is a dead-ringer for Gregg Wallace.
Robert De Zerbi is set to bring his own backroom team with him from Sassuolo & Shakhtar Donetsk. 🙌
🤣 That means #BHAFC fans can now welcome our very own Gregg Wallace lookalike, AKA Vincenzo Teresa, to the Albion dugout. 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/usvhkjhyxS
— Seagulls Central (@SeagullsCentral) September 18, 2022
Moving away from Masterchef look-a-likes and De Zerbi favours a 4-2-3-1 formation. It is the wide forwards who are crucial to the way he plays. Potentially good news for Leandro Trossard, who has been devastating on the left since Potter redeployed him as wing back.
Going forward, De Zerbi likes the three players behind the lone striker to join the attack. The two full backs then push into midfield alongside the two holding players. It becomes almost a 2-4-4, which would appear to guarantee plenty of entertainment.
Such desire to attack means that a De Zerbi side take frequent shots from inside and outside the area. Sassuolo hugely outperformed their xG, which is a far cry from the Albion under Potter.
De Zerbi has a proven track record of improving individuals. Three of his Sassuolo players were part of the Italy squad who won Euro 2020 (in 2021).
Manuel Locatelli was signed by De Zerbi and turned into an Italian international under his management. Forward Domenico Berardi was already a Sassuolo player when De Zerbi arrived, helping him into the national team.
Berardi scored the first penalty in the final shootout at Wembley against England and was linked with a big-money move to Liverpool in the summer.
Giacomo Raspadori meanwhile was given his professional debut by De Zerbi at the age of 19 in 2019. Within two years, Raspadori made his Italy debut and is now considered the future of Italian football.
It is this ability to unlock potential that makes De Zerbi such an exciting coach. The website Total Football Analysis wrote of De Zerbi: “The level of improvement many players have achieved under his guidance is extraordinary, and that is why he is a difference-maker.”
“Managing players to perform at that level with Sassuolo’s limited involvement in the transfer market is what makes him one of the most exciting coaches of this generation.”
When Potter left for Chelsea, there was a sense of despair around the Albion. How could Brighton replace a head coach that had taken the Seagulls to never-before reached heights?
There are never any guarantees when a foreign coach comes to the Premier League for the first time. Some find the unique demands of English football too much, despite succeeding everywhere else they go.
De Zerbi may not work out. But on paper at least, Brighton appear to have appointed a head coach with the potential to be even better than Potter. If you are not excited about where the Albion might he headed under his management, then you should be.
