A manager who transformed Brighton on the pitch recognising one of his successors as taking the Albion to even greater heights. What Gus Poyet has to say about Roberto De Zerbi is rather interesting.
There are plenty of comparisons between Poyet and De Zerbi. Both rewrote the rulebook of what people thought possible for Brighton.
Poyet led the Albion to the League One title playing a brand of football out of this world. De Zerbi meanwhile has taken Brighton into Europe for the first time and made them one of the most watchable teams on the planet.
Both have infectious personalities which connected them almost instantly with the Seagulls fan base. Both are passionate and always speak their mind, even if it can land them in trouble with the authorities.
Or in the case of Poyet, his employers. Gus’ mouth ultimately resulted in the sack and him becoming persona non grata at the Albion despite being the manager who began laying the foundations for all the success which has followed.
Recent Brighton history might look very different had Poyet not won promotion to the Championship in time for the first season at the Amex, or introduced a playing style and environment which made good players want to come to Sussex.
What does Poyet make of the journey Brighton have been in the decade since his departure? Speaking to SafeBettingSites.com, Poyet hailed De Zerbi and the achievements of the players in securing Europa League football for 2023-24.
With the praise though came a word of caution as Poyet pondered how the squad would cope with the additional workload of playing on Thursday nights through the autumn and winter.
“The biggest problem will be playing a big number of games,” said Poyet. “You can be a good player by just playing every weekend, but now you need to play midweek, and you need to maintain that level throughout the whole season.”
“So that will be a challenge for most of the players. I’ll even talk about the one I know the most, Lewis Dunk. He’s never had this challenge.”
“It’s going to be interesting how De Zerbi, who is a genius by the way, is going to make sure the team maintains a certain level whilst playing so many games.”
Poyet admitted his surprise that one of the European Super League Elite Six did not move for De Zerbi in the summer, such has been his impact on Brighton and English football since arriving last September.
“I am very happy that De Zerbi is still at Brighton because I had a feeling that he was leaving. He is spectacular. He arrived in the Premier League and went boom.”
“So I thought Chelsea who were without a coach, and Tottenham who were also without a coach would go for him, but I’m happy he stayed at Brighton.”
Most Albion fans expect the charismatic head coach to move on sooner rather than later. He is good enough to manage Real Madrid or Barcelona in the future. Poyet agrees.
“I think in the direction his career is going, he makes me think that he will finish in a team challenging for bigger things. He’s already in Europe with Brighton so that is a bigger step, but for sure he will have a chance in the future with one of the top teams.”
And it is not just De Zerbi who Poyet feels is ready for one of the world’s biggest clubs. He also singled out Kaoru Mitoma and Dunk, who Poyet first introduced to the senior set up at the Albion back in 2010.
“I like Mitoma. I like him a lot. There aren’t many players like him. But he’s still young and he’s still learning, so another year at Brighton for him where he keeps playing will be fantastic for him.”
“I’m also a big fan of Dunk. I thought he was leaving two years ago,” said Poyet, referring to the summer when both Leicester City and Chelsea were said to be interested. Fortunately for Brighton, a move never materialised.
“I thought it was a great chance for him to go, but it’s a worry for Brighton. You want to do well, but you don’t want to lose your best players.”
“When you start losing players, it becomes a big challenge. You need to be realistic as a coach that you’re going to lose some players if you’re doing well, but at the same time, it’s difficult for the consistency that Brighton had last year. So after Caicedo, let’s hope that’s it – no more.”
Selling players is of course all part of the Brighton model. Its success though relies on the Albion’s recruitment department identifying and signing replacements who can seamlessly take over from the departed.
Pervis Estupinan for Marc Cucurella, Billy Gilmour for Caicedo, Caicedo for Yvess Bissouma, Julio Enciso for Alexis Mac Allister and so on and so forth.
“Normally, Tony Bloom with his recruitment system will find a way and find the players,” added Poyet. “But obviously, you cannot do that every year because once you’re going to get it wrong.”
“If the player replacement doesn’t work, or doesn’t adapt that quickly, you need to be careful, especially in this season where they’re playing in Europe.”
“The thing I’m worried about the most is that they get to such an incredible level, but then they lose two or three key players.”
Despite Caicedo and Mac Allister leaving and Poyet’s fears, Brighton have looked good enough in their four Premier League matches to date to cope.
And as long as the Albion have their spectacular genius De Zerbi, anything feels possible.
