Roberto De Zerbi on why he did not think twice about accepting Brighton's job offer and his unfinished business in Ukraine
Roberto De Zerbi explains his reasons for joining Brighton, his obsession with football, and why he wants to return to Shakhtar Donetsk to coach his former side again; watch Brentford vs Brighton live on Sky Sports Premier League on Friday from 7pm, kick-off 8pm
Friday 14 October 2022 16:34, UK
Moving overseas for work can be daunting; a language barrier, a different way of life. But it can also be a perfect opportunity to live a different culture, see a different side of life.
Well, usually.
"I haven't seen much [outside of the club], but I don't want to," Roberto De Zerbi tells Sky Sports less than four weeks after he was appointed as Brighton's new head coach, succeeding Chelsea-bound Graham Potter.
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"Football for me is not only a job, it gives me everything I need. There is no life outside work for me, my focus is only on the squad, my players, and for the moment I have no time to think about the UK."
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De Zerbi is a serious coach, and describes Brighton as a "serious" club. It is a clear sign that things have been going right on the south coast that barely seven years after playing their first Premier League match, the Seagulls have convinced one of Europe's most promising up-and-coming coaches to take over.
While De Zerbi may not wish to involve his players in ballet as Potter has in the past - although we didn't ask - the Italian's arrival feels like a natural continuation, perhaps in time an evolution, of the possession-based, easy-on-the-eye footballing culture Potter developed over four years at the Amex Stadium, given his work at Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Just as Brighton have seen some of their best talents picked off in recent years and replaced them with seamless consistency, so does Potter's departure for Stamford Bridge feel as much of an opportunity as a loss given their latest appointment.
Not long ago it would have been considered quite the coup that the man who drew acclaim for his 'De Zerbismo' style with that unfashionable Sassuolo side - who he twice led to eighth in Serie A while developing a number of members of the current Italy national squad - would join Brighton. But no longer.
"I consider Brighton to be at a high level already," he says. "If we are speaking about the organisation of the club, they are a serious club - a serious chairman, serious CEO, serious sporting director, and Brighton have very good players.
"They already have a mentality very close to my mentality, and I didn't have to think twice to accept Brighton's proposal.
"I was looking for a club who could give me the same opportunity and the right conditions to do my work, to continue in my way. In the past, I have chosen teams who can give me the opportunity to work in this situation, this style.
"There are many chairmen who want to put their voice about the line-ups, strategy, style of play, scouting - I want to be free. I want to be relaxed to decide the best players for me, and after the first meeting with Tony and Paul, I understood that it would be the right club for me."
De Zerbi speaks with clarity and honesty, and though he has been learning English for less than a month has a real ability to get his point across in his new tongue when he wants to. It's 'what you see is what you get', and has underpinned his own personal philosophy as much as his tactical beliefs throughout his managerial career. It's the most important part in fact, he insists.
Like most managers, he does not want to hang his hat on specifics when it comes to his hopes, perhaps dreams, with Brighton. Even then, he is straight into the detail to explain his reasoning.
"For the moment, it's not right to decide a goal in terms of the table, or qualifying for Europe," he explains. "We cannot set a target today, because first of all I need to see how the squad react to what I demand of them. The first step is to reach the best level of how we have to play.
"The second step is to understand whether we need one or two players who are very functional for the positions we need them for. After those two steps, I can be much more precise about our targets."
In our interview De Zerbi's honesty is never more apparent than when the topic of Shakhtar is raised. He spent less than a year at the club after the Ukrainian season was cut short by the Russian invasion in February.
Back then, the Italian refused to leave the country before all of his overseas players had been given safe passage home. Leaving the club, five months later, is still a raw memory - and one he wants to put right, one day.
"It is still an open wound for me," he says. "It was really tough to leave Shakhtar. After I leave Brighton, I want to be Shakhtar manager again - one day, I want to come back. It's been really sad and unfair how everything finished.
"Together we are here, sat together, and tomorrow everything is finished. It's painful for me, there are still bombs and shelling hundreds of metres away from where I was living. It's painful to see my old players, who can't go home - while at the same time, I am here in the Premier League."
