Brighton and Hove Albion will not stand in Roberto de Zerbi’s way this summer, with a growing belief he will be moving on from the club.
That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who say the manager’s recent comments have been seen as ‘farewell words’ by his suitors.
The newspaper cover comments from the Italian boss today, after he claimed that the focus is now on the last ten games of the season and then “whoever is there will think about how to improve this season.”
That message is not ‘difficult to decode’ according to Gazzetta, who believe it is a sign of De Zerbi’s plan to depart.
They say he has interest from Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern, Liverpool and Barcelona thanks to his work with the Seagulls, even after their heavy defeat to Roma in the Europa League.
For now, he is focused on finishing the season with Brighton but the ‘bitterness’ of their European failure remains with him and could push him towards the exit.
The growing belief inside the Premier League is that Brighton have ‘become too narrow’ for what De Zerbi has become as a manager. In other words, he’s quickly outgrown them.
Their adventure in Europe has shown the limitations of their continued selling off of talent, which has often been replaced by more talent rather than ready-made players, and thus could see De Zerbi leave for a more ambitious, ready-made project.
Brighton are coming to accept this and ‘won’t get in the way’ of the Italian departing, presumably only if his €13m release clause is met by any of his suitors.
