Roberto De Zerbi: how a ‘little genius’ was helped on his road to Brighton

Roberto De Zerbi was known during his playing career as “the little genius”. Given that his days as a left-footed No 10 were spent almost entirely in Italy but outside Serie A, such a billing may appear generous. Perhaps fittingly, though, two coaches regularly referred to in similar glowing terms have helped the 43-year-old on his path to the Premier League.

De Zerbi takes charge of Brighton for the first time on Saturday at Liverpool appreciative of Pep Guardiola’s and Marcelo Bielsa’s inspiration and assistance. When the Italian was sacked by Palermo in 2016 after less than three months, his prospects looked grim. His dismissal had been sparked by seven consecutive Serie A defeats and Coppa Italia elimination by second-tier Spezia. A message sent to Bielsa, one of his idols, got the response he needed.

De Zerbi had asked to watch some training sessions and received a text from the then Lille manager inviting him and his staff to attend training for a week. For De Zerbi it was a formative experience and helped him to build coaching ideas that, via two more Serie A stints and Shakhtar Donetsk, prompted Brighton to hire him as Graham Potter’s replacement.

De Zerbi had long been studying Guardiola by the time he got to see Bielsa at work. He analysed the Catalan’s Barcelona and Bayern Munich training sessions before taking a job with Foggia in Italy’s third division in 2014 and the quirk of De Zerbi’s birthplace has done no harm in building a strong relationship with Manchester City’s manager, whom he regards as a role model.

De Zerbi was born in Brescia and has played for his hometown club, where Guardiola had two spells as a midfielder in the early 2000s. He was told years ago by Guardiola he was destined to manage in