‘I love my club’

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that he wants to stay with the Premier League club, amid links with several managerial jobs across Europe including at Bayern Munich.

De Zerbi has been touted for the Bayern hotseat following the announcement that the Bavarians will part ways with manager Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season.

De Zerbi was also linked with the Liverpool job, before Arne Slot was earmarked as the Merseyside club’s lead candidate. Barcelona were also said to be interested in De Zerbi.

But, speaking to Sky Sports, De Zerbi confirmed he wants to stay in Brighton and continue to build upon his impressive tenure, which saw the club play in the UEFA Europa League for the first time this season.

“We’re going to speak with Tony [Bloom – Brighton owner],” he said. “I think I would like to stay in Brighton because I love my players. I love this city. I love my club, my fans.

“I said in the meeting with the fans, if I’m happy, there isn’t any club can bring myself to change a team but I want to keep my passion always.”

De Zerbi received widespread plaudits for Brighton’s seamless transition into his tenure following the departure of previous boss Graham Potter to Chelsea. Brighton’s high-tempo, entertaining brand of football saw De Zerbi’s philosophy gain much adulation throughout the 2022-23 season, culminating in a sixth-placed finish.

While the club has not reached the same heights in the league this season, currently sitting 13th, it has still been an historic campaign for The Seagulls, reaching the last-16 of the Europa League where they were knocked out by Roma.

De Zerbi said that as long as he is able to field a team he deems of suitable quality to play his style of football, he will be happy as Brighton boss.

He added: “I want to be happy because I would like to compete every game with all my potential qualities in the players, the squad, the style of play, the quality of the players and this season, especially in the last three months, we couldn’t do that.

“I think the squad we had when we have started this season, was enough to compete. If you can rotate the players, you can reach the crucial part of the season in different way.

“Some of my players like Pascal Gross, Lewis Dunk, Danny Welbeck, Jan Paul van Hecke, Billy Gilmour, they played every game for three, four months. It’s normal to reach March and April in the not perfect condition.”

The Brighton boss, though, admitted to feeling “pain” over the “mistakes” made this season that have led them to languishing in the bottom half of the table.

“I am suffering because I’m hungry,” he said. “If I think what was my dream before the season, I feel pain.

“I can’t be angry because I know I’ve done all my energies, the players and the club are the same. We made mistakes, but mistakes are part of football and life.”

Brighton face Aston Villa on Sunday to begin their tough run-in, consisting entirely of sides in the Premier League top eight.

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