Is This the Most Underrated Manager in European Football?
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Is This the Most Underrated Manager in European Football?

Is This the Most Underrated Manager in European Football?

Within the social media era of football, the words overrated and underrated a thrown around like tantrums at a children's party.

It seems that even the greatest of players—Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, esque—will get called underrated.

If people truly think Lionel Messi, a man who is often compared to an alien, is slept on, then you need to give your head a wobble.

But Roberto De Zerbi may truly be able to claim that title as an ‘underrated manager.’

In fact, since leaving Brighton in 2024, there is even an argument that he may be the most underrated manager in Europe.

Playing Years and Early Management Career

As a player, Roberto De Zerbi boasts a career path that any journeyman would be proud of. In his decade and a half of playing time, De Zerbi played for 14 clubs, 13 of which were situated in Italy.

An attacking midfielder by trade, De Zerbi’s most prominent time in his career came between 2002 and 2010, when he played for Foggia, Arezzo, Catania, and Napoli, who were languishing in Serie B when he joined.

As soon as his playing career ended in 2013, De Zerbi moved straight into management. He started at Serie D side Darfo Boario before moving to his former club, Foggia.

His debut campaign brought a respectable seventh-place finish; the next season, he pushed them all the way to second, only to fall short against Pisa in the Serie C play-offs. A taste of progress, a sting of disappointment, but De Zerbi had made his mark.

After seeing what he had done with Foggia, Palermo—who had just sacked manager Davide Ballardini—decided to take their chance with the unproven Italian.

But his time at Palermo was disastrous. 12 games, one win, two draws, and 9 losses. After seven consecutive losses and no points won at home, De Zerbi’s contract was torn up after just three months.

Next up would be another Serie A side in Benevento. They would also be relegated—finishing 18 points from safety—but De Zerbi was massively praised, which earned him a move to Sassuolo.

At Sassuolo, De Zerbi properly announced himself. The football was bold and possession-heavy but with enough edge to bloody the noses of Italy’s biggest sides.

They finished 8th in back-to-back seasons, with the latter seeing them fail to qualify for the UEFA Conference League only on goal difference.

Next up, Shakhtar Donetsk.

He would spend just one season at the Ukrainian club, but the impact he made in those twelve months has reverberated ever since.

In his first season, De Zerbi lifted his first—and so far only—piece of silverware, the Ukrainian Super Cup, and had Shakhtar sitting top of the league in early 2022.

And then, football stopped. Russia’s invasion froze the season and De Zerbi’s adventure. He did not fail at Shakhtar but left with unfinished business.

Brighton

After Graham Potter decided to swap the South Coast for London—a move that would be disastrous—Brighton did what they always do. Find a replacement from an obscure league that turns out to be even better.

Of course, in this situation, we are talking about De Zerbi.

At the start of his reign, the Italian experienced a predictably huge culture shock. De Zerbi had moved from the Ukrainian league to the Premier League, and that was a huge adjustment.

Swapping Shakhtar’s rhythms for Saturday 12:30 kick-offs at Anfield is a different world entirely.

In his first five games, Brighton picked up just two points and slipped from 4th to 9th.

But over the next few months, De Zerbi’s master plan slowly started coming together. Brighton had an extremely strong core group of players who were able to fit in perfectly with De Zerbi’s possession-based play.

At Brighton, De Zerbi worked on his craft, and while the squad started in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-4 formation, as they attacked, this quickly changed to a 3-2-5 or, if they were chasing the game, a 2-2-6.

The approach was high-risk, high-reward in the extreme, and luckily for De Zerbi, it paid off.

With the likes of Evan Ferguson, Alexis MacAllister, and Moises Caicedo leading the squad, Brighton finished 6th, their highest ever.

His second season in charge did not go the same way. This is due to teams gradually figuring out how to play against his style of play and an increasingly hectic schedule.

With Brighton finishing in Europa League places in the 2023/24 season, there was less time for players to rest and recover, and the team was stretched.

Teams had also found out how to play against the Italian’s attacking side. Opponents realized that Brighton offered sustained pressure when moving forward, but were left thin at the back. Allow Brighton to attack, but just prevent any movement near the box and wait for a mistake. It led to teams easily being able to counter.

Add to this that McCalister, Robert Sanchez, and Caicedo all departed from the club for heavy transfer fees, leaving De Zerbi stuck trying to patch holes with admittedly very expensive duct tape and academy grads.

Brighton would finish in 11th, still respectable but not the heights of the previous season. It would get worse, though, as De Zerbi and chairman Tony Bloom fell out, leading to the Italian moving on yet again.

Marseille and present day

At Marseille, De Zerbi has done what so many before him promised but failed to deliver: he’s made a fallen giant feel formidable again.

Inheriting a side that had slumped to eighth in 2023/24, his very first campaign ended with a second-place finish.

This is no mean feat in Ligue 1. The top spot is trademarked by PSG, so finishing second to what is now the greatest team in Europe was a huge accomplishment.

But De Zerbi has still come under fire for a multitude of reasons.

The first being for who he decided to bring into the club at the very start of his reign, Mason Greenwood and Elye Wahi.

Greenwood, we all know about. In January of 2022, his girlfriend, Harriet Robson, released photos that accused the Manchester United star of beating and abusing her, accompanied by audio of Greenwood seemingly sexually abusing her.

Elye Wahi’s case is a little less known but nonetheless disturbing. At the age of 15, Wahi was expelled from College Jean-Moulin after he forced three students to follow him to the bathroom and undress.

Three years later, investigative reporter Romain Molina alleged that Wahi had pressured three students to masturbate in front of him.

The other scenario that saw De Zerbi scrutinized unfolded mere months ago between Adrien Rabiot and the English winger Jonathan Rowe.

After a 1-0 loss to Rennes on August 15, tempers flared over. Rabiot and Rowe clashed in the dressing room, and the row turning physical, leaving one player knocked unconscious

The fallout was swift: both men ended up on the transfer list, and both were gone within weeks.

And whilst you may think this would have derailed their season, Marseille still sit in 6th place with three wins and two losses.

One of the wins came two nights ago against PSG. Marseille's first league win against the French juggernauts in 14 years.

There is no doubt that De Zerbi is a controversial manager with a patchy history. But there is also no doubt that behind all the madness, there is a genius.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Joe Ryan

Features Journalist

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