Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that he plans to return to Serie A one day to take on a coaching job there, but also admitted that it is not something he is thinking about in the near future.
De Zerbi’s stock has been rising since the time he took on the Sassuolo job, having done well there before moving on to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and then ending up at his current club Brighton.
The Italian has draw a lot of praise for the way he sets his team up to play exciting, expansive, attacking football, using patterns and systems that have drawn praise from the likes of Pep Guardiola.
Journalists like Alessandro Jacobone have claimed that Milan are interested in De Zerbi and are working quietly to try hire him, given he came through the youth academy of the Rossoneri in the 1990s.
However, De Zerbi – who returned to Italy ahead of Brighton’s Europa League tie against Roma – admitted on the eve of the game that he has no immediate plans to come back to Serie A.
“It’s not true that I don’t think about it. But, usually, I do what makes me happy and right now, that’s to be where I am,” he said (via Daily Mail).
“One day, I will come back to Italy. I don’t know when but when I made the choice to go to Shakhtar I did it because I wanted to find a way outside Italy. Without going into too many details, there were some things in Italy I didn’t like. I decided to do something else.
“I don’t see myself as a genius. I don’t think I’m better than others but I’m not scared to work hard and I don’t lack courage. I don’t think of negative consequences. What probably makes a difference is my passion for football.
“I am lucky to compete with this team at this level. We are here not only to reach the last eight but also because we are writing history, something unprecedented for this club and its fans.
“I have been coaching for 10 years, five or six teams, and this is the team with players most similar to me in terms of pride, hunger, dignity and motivation.
“I fell in love with my team in Foggia, Benevento, Sassuolo and even Shakhtar Dontesk where I only spent six months but this is a team I really love, a team who can lose 3-0, be trashed and overwhelmed but they always bounce back with pride and hunger.”
The report from the Mail goes on to state that his progress is being ‘watched and admired by clubs including Milan’ as well as Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich who are all looking for new managers
Bring him home.
The guy has family in Italy he probably returns all the time!!
I think he’d be good for the project. Remember under him every Sassuolo player was worth 40M and they were a mid table team 😂. In all seriousness he did seem to bring the best out of many players who were very much punching above their weight
Pioli wants his team to play as good as yours but he lack that courage and thinks too much of the negative consequences. He wants to attack but his team doesn’t press high enough against certain teams especially in the champions league. Secondly they don’t move the ball around quickly enough to be able to disorganize any opponents. It’s too slow with too many safe passes because then you don’t lose possession and can claim to be dominating.
Piolis team is lacking 2 basics of modern attacking football: Defending with an organized effective hard press (against every team). Attacking with quick player and ball movements.
Not so sure personally. Brighton are absolutely terrible defensively.