Roberto De Zerbi: Time for a conversation

Roberto De Zerbi is such a strange case for a manager.

There’s no doubting his talent - he’s an unbelievable coach. When Pep Guardiola is telling the media that someone has greatly inspired him tactically, best believe that this ‘someone’ must be something special. 

And that’s exactly what De Zerbi did. He arrived in Brighton over two seasons ago, after impressing at Sassuolo and Shaktar, and took the league by storm. He played remarkably attractive football that was risky but so fun to watch and it led to the Seagulls finishing 6th in the 2022/23 season and De Zerbi had easily the best winning percentage a Brighton manager has ever accumulated, by the time the season was over. He was already being touted for some of the biggest managerial jobs across Europe, with reports linking him to clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, PSG and many others. 

However, although the Italian’s managerial highs are very high, the lows are virtually underground. The weirdest thing is though, this isn’t really an on-the-pitch issue I’m talking about. Although Brighton finished 11th in the following season (which isn’t ideal given the standards that De Zerbi had set the year prior), they were plagued with injuries throughout the campaign so there was an air of forgiveness that most fans would’ve given him. But, he left and if you weren’t following closely, you wouldn’t really have an idea why.

De Zerbi behind the scenes is as enigmatic as the football his teams play - he’s intense and he doesn’t like things when things don’t go his way. After him and Tony Bloom disagreed on transfer strategies going forward, De Zerbi was quick to leave - proving it’s either his way or no way. The strategy was to sign more players in their mid-to-late twenties instead of the either very young, or very old players that Brigthon often go for. Bloom reluctantly gave De Zerbi the power over two transfers: Mo Dahoud and Igor - both of which, I think it’s fair to say, haven’t gone very well.

So, on the gaffer went to Marseille where he was heavily and questionably backed in the transfer market that summer as the club spent heavily on some divisive characters such as Mason Greenwood, Neal Maupay, Elye Wahi and Adrien Rabiot. But after a very good start to Ligue 1, it seemed the doubters had to keep quiet for a minute as De Zerbi was once again proving his talents.

But as I said before, the lows are LOW. As soon as Marseille’s run of form began to grow a bit sour, De Zerbi threatened to the media that he would quit. "If I'm the problem, I'm ready to leave. I'll leave the money and hand back my contract," After a loss to Auxerre. Then, after a 3-1 loss to Reims a week ago, De Zerbi chose to not take training which led to rumours circulating that  mutiny was beginning amongst the squad.

Obviously, De Zerbi didn’t quit and a mutiny never prospered. But, De Zerbi has this horrible quality of throwing his toys out the pram as soon as he’s faced with adversity - these are just two of many examples I could’ve picked. Instead of trying to calm things down and put less pressure on himself and the squad, De Zerbi often does the opposite with strange quotes and actions that often create media storms.

Now there are doubts arising that he will even continue at Marseille, which is slightly odd considering the fact that Marseille are on-track to finish 3rd this season and claim an illustrious Champions League spot. Although OM are currently going through a torrid run of form, this has still been a good season from De Zerbi but you would never think this by reading some of his mad quotes this season.

There’s no doubting his ability but this childish stubbornness that the Italian possesses will undoubtedly scare off a lot of the other big clubs who just won’t want to work with him. This, in addition to the fact that De Zerbi is becoming increasingly known for not being able to coach a competent defence, is really limiting how high his stock can fly.

Unlike most managers, if De Zerbi wants to improve and go on to do great things. Arguably, it’s not the tactics he has to drastically change, it’s his temperament and his ego.