Everybody wants Roberto De Zerbi but the Italian has downplayed all the media reports true and untrue, about the direction of his career after the 2023/24 season.
De Zerbi is in his first full season with Brighton and Hove Albion and has shown how good a team with minimal resources can play as long as they are coached right.
His style has put many of the bigger teams with massive budgets to shame because the man has achieved all that he has with youngsters and players bought for less than £20 million.
The total cost of Brighton’s full squad summed up to a meagre £204 million after the 2024 winter transfer window. This figure made them the 16th most expensive team in the Premier League. If you look at it from the reverse, they are the fourth cheapest squad, with only Brentford and the three promoted teams from last season – Luton Town, Sheffield United and Burnley – being ahead of them.
Club administrators all over Europe have seen what the man can do with a small budget and are now lobbying to give him their big budgets to manage.
Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich as well as some clubs in Italy have all been reported as suitors for the former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk gaffer.
However, De Zerbi has brushed all these aside, giving Brighton’s fans his guarantee that his focus is on the club and helping them remain in Europe for next season.
“I am still proud to be coach at Brighton,” De Zerbi told reporters. “I know I am really lucky to work with these players, to work with this club. I’d like to compete with a full squad but I try to play with the players available and I think they are enough.”
“It’s (future) not a problem, it’s a part of my work. At the moment I want to be focused and to keep my eyes on the target we have. I have the contract at the moment. The focus is on the pitch.”
“I’m very relaxed. The problems are the injured players and the preparations for the next game. These are the problems not the contract or my future.”
Brighton will go into eighth place on the table if they beat 15th-placed Brentford in their Premier League midweek fixture. Finishing in this position or higher guarantees them European football or at worst a spot in the playoffs for either the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference League.
