With minimal investment, Brighton look better than Chelsea and Liverpool.
De Zerby’s appointment could be defined as a succession
Graham Potter’s contract ran until 2025, and it is obvious that the management planned to implement a fairly significant project with the support of the British. Boely’s record-breaking offer derailed Brighton’s plans for Potter. Together with him, the club left the entire headquarters in the person of assistant Billy Reid, head coach Bjorn Hamberg, goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts and recruiting analyst Kyle Macaulay.
It would seem that the picture for Brighton is very sad – the club has left the entire coaching staff, which, by today’s standards, has been building the team for a long time. And the team has never allowed itself significant expenses. Therefore, many expected the departure of Potter and Co. to be a major blow to Brighton, and it is only a matter of time before a progressive or even sharp decline in performance.
The Brighton project has been very thought out and carefully planned. It turned out they also had a fallback in case their primary liaison left Brighton. Former Shakhtar and Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi proved to be the perfect successor.
Since the appointment of the Italian specialist, Brighton have become one of the best in building an effective build-up: in terms of pass accuracy off the bottom third of the pitch and ball distance from goal, the club is in the top 3 of the Premier League .
Thanks to this, the “seagull” players manage to lure the opponent into their half of the field without any problems, creating free space behind them. It is used by flank players due to short ball exchanges and quickly reach the opponent’s penalty area.
Under Graham Potter, construction figures were also at a fairly high level, but the difference with De Zerby’s team is also that after his appointment, the abnormal performance indicators of the players returned to normal. It is no longer the difference as before, when a team could have 2-3 great chances to score a goal, and the goals scored column was 0. Brighton started 2023 strongly, scoring 12 goals and conceding just 2 matches against Middlesbrough and two Liverpool teams.
De Zerbi managed to rebuild the team in a short time already during the season, because his job fell on the 6th round of the championship. Over the course of several rounds the team, which in most cases played on the counterattack with the 3-4-3, chose the calm 4-2-3-1, progressively overcoming the opponent, but no longer adapting to him.
The Brighton management has assembled an amazing analytical department and has become the main key to success
Current club owner Tony Bloom acquired the team in 2009 when the Seagulls were in the deep 3rd division. He paid off an £18m debt and acquired a 75% stake, aiming to get there Premier League. In 2017, the team achieved its goal and entered the Premier League.
The success has been that Bloom is obsessed with analytical data. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and founder of several betting companies. For one of them, he developed a computer program, which is now used by Brighton to this day.
This program calculates not only narrow indications of value for money and career prospects, but also the compatibility of some players in the same structure, which allows you to get more information about the expected transfer.
There is a clear trend in Brighton’s transfer policy. They very rarely acquire players of older and middle football age. In the vast majority of cases, players from little-known leagues and clubs enter the team, whom the broad public barely knows. Almost the entire team was assembled according to this principle, and only a few players were known in wide circles before moving to Brighton. These include Welbeck, Lallana, Estupinyan, Billy Gilmour.
The transfers of the main stars of the team also do not reach the level of the game
Sure, Potter’s departure was a pretty significant loss, but it wasn’t the first and only one for the team. Almost every transfer window of various Brighton leaders is associated with transfers to major clubs in England, some even leaving.
In the past 2 years alone, the club left the midfield stronghold, Yves Bissum, defensive leader Ben White, last season’s best transfer Cucurella, Burn, and left the club altogether in the middle of last season, leaving behind a lean chosen for the role of central defender.
However, in everyone’s place, new young stars were found who easily replaced the deceased players and did not take long to shoulder the burden of responsibility.
Ambitious young players don’t leave Brighton and they see from the example of other players that they can thrive here. Cucurella, who left for Chelsea after Graham Potter, was replaced by one of the best left-backs Purvis Estupinyan. And against the background of his performances, it is clear that Brighton did not lose in quality, but at the same time gained: Cucurella was sold for 65 million euros, despite the fact that the year before he had moved for only 18 million.
The place of Yves Bissum, who left for Tottenham, was immediately taken by Moises Caicedo, who, after six months of performances, was claimed by Chelsea and Liverpool. In addition, it was reported that Chelsea intend to acquire the Ecuadorian in the winter and Liverpool are interested in the player. However, no specific proposals have been received so far. In the summer, information appeared about the offer from Liverpool in the amount of 42 million pounds, and Graham Potter even commented on this:
I am pleased to report that we have not received any offers. Maybe Liverpool don’t have my email because I haven’t seen anything. I’m not sure if now £42m is enough for his boots too, maybe just the laces.
In addition, the club shines players such as the new world champion McAllister and March, who scored twice against Liverpool. Until the beginning of 2023, Leandro Trossar was the main protagonist, but he did not get along with Roberto De Zerbi and did not take part in the last three meetings. However, this was no loss: he was quickly replaced by Japanese Kaoru Mitoma, who has been receiving tirelessly rave reviews since making his debut for Brighton.
What happens is that the Brighton players and staff do not stay at the club, but the team is still afloat, not slowing down and continuing to develop, despite all sorts of obstacles.
