Pep Guardiola has led a new way of playing in the past 15 years which has influenced football culture, countries and other coaches.

But not many have taken his teachings, understood them deeply and had the bravery to push that style to the next level, like Brighton & Hove Albion’s Italian manager Roberto de Zerbi has done.

If there are a group of fans anywhere in the world that can even begin to understand the passion and commitment shown by De Zerbi to the game, it is those of Brighton — a club who have gone from teetering on the brink of extinction to the Premier League and Europe.

That same spirit and commitment continues in the latest leg of Brighton’s epic journey under the passionate gaze of the 44-year-old Brescia-born coach, regarded by many as one of the finest to make it into the Premier League since Guardiola arrived in Manchester.

A manager who is admired by many and, as his side travel to champions Manchester City on Saturday just two points behind them, is already being eyed as a potential Guardiola replacement once his Etihad Stadium era ends.

In football, as in life, things do not always happen by design. Sometimes they are the result of a combination of circumstances, coincidence and adversity.

The first time I met De Zerbi was in Split, Croatia, where his then club Shakhtar Donetsk were playing a friendly against Hajduk Split to raise funds for Ukraine following the country’s invasion by Russia.

After the game, as we chatted, I noticed a number of players coming out of the dressing room in tears. The war in Ukraine meant he was left with no choice other than to leave the club who, at the time of the suspension of the league, were top of the table. De Zerbi had chosen that moment to tell them he was leaving – and the sadness was palpable.

Then Graham Potter received an offer he could not refuse from Chelsea, and Shakhtar’s loss would become Brighton’s gain when De Zerbi signed a four-year deal at Amex Stadium on September 18, 2022.

It would be too simple, however, to suggest De Zerbi’s arrival was all about circumstances and nothing to do with forward planning. Brighton knew about the Italian manager since his days at Sassuolo, who had top-eight finishes in two consecutive seasons, and were admirers of his brand of attack-minded football. The English club imagined a time where an approach would be inevitable.

With their fingers so firmly placed on football’s pulse, De Zerbi’s appointment was clever and innovative. Their admirable scouting would do the rest by signing great young prospects and making huge profits by selling them, to be replaced by new prospects.

All energetic players, mouldable, young, and technically more than capable. Perfect for what De Zerbi expects and demands of them.

‘A potential replacement for Guardiola’

I do not know of any manager in the world who is gaining more respect from top coaches worldwide than De Zerbi.

I get more messages about him and his style from managers than I do about any other coach. They admire the risky demands on his players, how he improves them, their offensive mentality, and especially how - for some of them - he makes their life much harder.

It helps that he is at a club where he does not face expectations about titles or Champions League qualification. That lack of pressure undoubtedly helped when he started his reign without a win in his first five games. At that point nobody at Brighton doubted they were in really good hands.

The talk of aiming for qualification to the most glamourous club football competition has started in the corridors of Brighton’s training ground, though. De Zerbi’s ambition is contagious.

Last season the Seagulls, nowhere near being among the six biggest clubs in England, finished the season in sixth place and were a penalty shootout away from the FA Cup final. The club now intends to ensure they not only maintain their level but build on it, and that is because of pressure generated by De Zerbi on himself and everyone involved with the club.

Expectations are high on the agenda he has created. The club knows Tottenham wanted to take him in the summer and that he decided to stay. They want him to continue to take Brighton on to bigger and better things.

The battle to improve is a constant one, and deep down De Zerbi probably senses he can never really take the team, the style, the development as far as he would like — constant attack and wins to get to the Champions League - though that is not going to stop him trying.

In that respect he is very similar to his friend, Guardiola. Both want to push on, both aware perfection is just a target, albeit the most important one. They share a similar philosophy on how the game should be played and Guardiola has even admitted he has learned things about the game from De Zerbi.

Brighton players celebrate during a recent match
Brighton players celebrate during a recent match
Image: HANDOUT
The Brighton boss even spent some time with Guardiola between leaving Shakhtar and joining the Seagulls. Those that witnessed the interactions between the two men will tell you half the time they did not understand what the pair were talking about, while for the other half they had been talking for so long everyone else had already left the building.

There is no doubt Manchester City have taken note, and, if Guardiola leaves the club in the summer of 2025, De Zerbi would be on the shortlist to replace him.

‘Taking football to the next level’

Fundamentally, Guardiola developed a way of playing the game which offensively had four phases; building from the back, circulating the ball in midfield, putting things in process for the preparation of the last pass and making the final decision.

He has evolved the game in the first three phases, but it would take someone with the same energy of when he started in 2008 to get to the last one — the organised final decision.

That element of the game that most strikers and forwards would claim is intuitive and instinctive, coaches like Guardiola and De Zerbi believe it can be trained, learned and improved upon. But try telling that to the players.

De Zerbi is trying. He wants to take football to another level from where Guardiola has taken it, doing things that have not been done. Under him, players risk more than ever and are more dynamic than ever. He puts more players in front of the ball than most and works harder than most at organising the attack.

Players enjoy working with him now they understand what is expected of them. It was not that clear in their minds in the first few weeks at Brighton. Results did not arrive quickly, and there were some voices that questioned what he was trying to do, but the club never doubted him.

De Zerbi has always enjoyed a great relationship with his players wherever he has been, primarily because he is honest, straight and clear with them. The key word is respect, and he respects and treats everyone as he would expect to be treated, while still being very much his own man.

He started as a coach ten years ago and has remained loyal to his philosophy throughout, while learning from other coaches to develop his ideas.

How has he adapted to England?

De Zerbi has made everyone at Brighton eager to work, adapt, improve and learn, and he has adapted to the different demands placed on him in different countries.

In England, players appreciate more the chance to enjoy a day off from the rigours of training in order to be able to work better and fresher. He has noted that players return keener, sharper and more ready after a day off.

The mentality in Italy, where he coached Sassuolo and where they train every day, is different. He has learned the need to allow his players to recharge their batteries.

His volatility on the touchline has also become more tempered, not least because he has seen that it is as expensive as it is counter-productive. He is learning the English way.

‘He’s full on and infectious’

Jason Steele is a player reborn at Brighton. After spending much time as a second-choice, sometimes even third-choice goalkeeper at previous clubs, under De Zerbi he has played his way into England contention.

Steele recently told the club’s programme: “I look forward to coming into training every day. There hasn’t been a minute when I’ve thought ‘I could do with a rest today’.

“He’s full on, always working, always trying to get better, trying to learn, and it rubs off and it’s infectious.

“The way I see football now whether I’m playing or watching TV is totally different to how I used to see it two, three or four years ago. I see a totally different sport now just through what he has taught us.”

When Spain forward Ansu Fati was deciding what club to join on leaving Barcelona, he narrowed it down to Tottenham Hotspur or Brighton.

He spoke first with Ange Postecoglou, who certainly impressed the young player, and then with De Zerbi who told him that as a former number 10 himself he understood the pain and the battle he had been enduring back in Spain.

He told him he knew about the frustrations of being ignored and how his style and that of Brighton would help Ansu rekindle his love for the game and maximise the potential everyone knew he had. That, and the style Brighton play, was more than enough to convince Ansu the English club was the next logical step for him. He wanted to be coached by Roberto de Zerbi.