After months of speculation about his departure, it finally seemed like Roberto De Zerbi was going to stay at Brighton for another season.
That all changed this weekend. “De Zerbi to leave Albion after Manchester United match,” the club said in a shocking statement on Saturday.
Now that we know that De Zerbi is leaving Brighton, all we can do is look forward. Here are three burning questions the club and Brighton fans should be asking right now.
Who will be the next Brighton manager?
We’re not going to beat around the bush. The most important question for Brighton right now is who will be their manager next season.
Most reports say it will be current Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna. The former Manchester United assistant has guided the Tractor Boys to back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League.
For Brighton, McKenna is a safe choice. He’s a young, up-and-coming, English manager in a similar mold to Graham Potter. It’s unclear whether he would be willing to bail on Ipswich Town before their first Premier League campaign since 2001-02.
Reportedly, Roberto De Zerbi told Brighton to hire Nice manager Francesco Farioli. The 35-year-old guided Nice to the Europa League this season.
His style is very similar to De Zerbi’s. Farioli was a goalkeeping coach for the former Brighton boss at Benevento and Sassuolo.
Southampton’s Russell Martin, Burnley boss Vincent Kompany, and former Hull City manager Liam Rosenior have also been rumored to be the next Brighton manager.
Whoever the Seagulls end up signing, they need to make a decision quickly as the upcoming transfer window could be one of the most important in club history.
Who else will leave Brighton this summer?
Roberto De Zerbi’s exit from Brighton has already sparked rumors that several players will follow him out the door this summer. None have really said who will leave though.
Mahmoud Dahoud, Igor Julio, and Ansu Fati are the only real “De Zerbi” signings on Brighton’s books. Dahoud and Fati are already gone. The club would definitely accept bids for Igor if they came in, but that’s not because De Zerbi left.
Stuttgart will trigger Deniz Undav’s buy option and Pascal Gross has long been linked to a move back to his native Germany. Eintracht Frankfurt seems like his most likely destination this summer.
On paper, it’s hard to make an argument for anyone else leaving the club besides those five players leaving the club.
If more players are actually going to leave, they need to make themselves known so Brighton can move on to their next era without De Zerbi.
Why did De Zerbi leave Brighton?
The first two questions are ones relating to how Brighton will play next season. This one is more about where the club will be in five years.
It’s no secret that Roberto De Zerbi left Brighton because of disagreements with club owner Tony Bloom and CEO Paul Barber. Most reports say the club were not ambitious enough to meet De Zerbi’s goals. What does this mean?
Was De Zerbi asking Bloom to spend £100 million on players he handpicked over the club’s scouts? Or were his requests on the more reasonable side?
Maybe it was something as simple as a personality clash between the aggressive De Zerbi and more laid back Bloom.
Whatever the case, better understanding why De Zerbi left Brighton will provide fans and players alike better insight into where the club currently stands in global football and into where the club wants to be in five years time.
