The goals have flowed at both ends since Roberto De Zerbi became Brighton boss, but there’s method in the madness – using strategies first honed at the Italian Bishop’s Stortford, he’s taken the Seagulls to greater heights than ever before
Words Huw Davies Additional reporting Daniele Verri
Take Pep Guardiola’s praise with a pinch of salt. Whether it’s calculated or just naturally effusive passion, the Catalan compliments many of his rivals. His opinion of Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton, however, hits different.
“Pay attention to what I’m going to say, because I’m pretty convinced I’m right,” Guardiola declared in May. “I think Roberto is one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years. He’s unique. I had a feeling he’d have an impact in the Premier League, but not in this short a time.”
The mutual love-in had begun a decade earlier, at the start of the Italian’s managerial career, when De Zerbi visited the Dolomite mountains to watch Pep’s Bayern Munich train at a pre-season camp. It would be nine years until the pair would go head to head on the touchline, weeks after De Zerbi joined Brighton in September 2022.
City won 3-1, but it was one of only two league fixtures since the start of 2021-22 in which they’d had the minority of possession – and they were at home, too. ‘So what, if Brighton lost?’ you might reasonably reply, but it showed potential. “They propose a type of game we’re not used to,” Guardiola said afterwards.
And so in May 2023 – following that Pep talk, and with City seeking a 13th consecutive Premier League victory – De Zerbi’s Brighton drew 1-1 in a duel the master’s apprentice probably deserved to win overall. It showed their fearlessness.
More importantly, it sealed Europa League entry for their first ever continental campaign. The club’s typically superb recruitment was vital, yet so were De Zerbi’s tactics. What’s more, they were entertaining.
In 2023, De Zerbi’s Albion crashed the top six, challenged for a Champions League place and did the double over Ajax. How?
‘NER NER’, WITH STUDS
Brighton appointed De Zerbi after Chelsea poached Graham Potter and his staff, as one of Todd Boehly’s regular donations to the south-coast club (now totalling £200 million). The Seagulls were flying in fourth but with just six games played, so the new man would have to manage expectations and a squad he hadn’t shaped. He had time: Albion had no game for four weeks due to a rail strike, int
