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Every club in the world is searching for the next Julian Nagelsmann. The hunt is always on for the next coaching prodigy, the young mind that can take whatever failures they endured on the field to fuel them to become geniuses on the touchline.Brighton, it seems, believe they have found their hidden gem. His name is Fabian Hurzeler, and he is set to become the Seagulls' manager in the coming days after being picked to replace Roberto De Zerbi at the Amex Stadium. Aged just 31, he will become the youngest manager in Premier League history.Despite his age, Hurzeler has had plenty of success in his coaching career so far, which was capped by him leading St. Pauli to promotion from the German second tier this past season. Now he will move to England, where he will be charged with coaching the likes of Lewis Dunk (32), Danny Welbeck (33) and James Milner (38), all of whom were born before him. To have climbed this high this fast at this age, there's clearly something special about Hurzeler.<script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>He has heard the comparisons and seen his name next to ones like Nagelsmann and, of course, he's flattered. Hurzeler, though, knows that all of this is just getting started. He's a coaching prodigy right now, but he has bigger aspirations than that."I have to stay humble," <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/lists/american-julian-nagelsmann-houston-born-fabian-hurzeler-bundesliga-manager-st-pauli/blt067fbcd8e347762c" target="_blank">he told GOAL and others during an interview back in April</a>. "I have to go on my own way. I still have a lot of things to learn. It's not only about detecting things on the pitch; it's also how you treat the media. It's how your impact is in the media and in the world."It's very important that I go on my own, that I try to reflect on my own, and that I go my own way because I can't be the same as Julian Nagelsmann. He went one way, but I'm trying to go the Fabian Hurzeler way. If I can be as successful as Nagelsmann, I will be happy."

Fabian Hurzeler: The U.S.-born coaching wonderkid dubbed 'the new Nagelsmann' set to become Brighton manager at just 31

Premier League

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Brighton

Bundesliga

Borussia Moenchengladbach

St. Pauli

Hurzeler was born in Houston to a Swiss father and a German mother. His parents were temporarily working in the United States, where he spent the first few years of his life before inevitably moving back to Europe.The entirety of his footballing career has been spent in Germany. First, a brief playing career that saw him represent the reserve teams at Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim and 1860 Munich, before becoming a player-coach at small-time FC Pipinsried. His coaching career continued on, first at Pinpinsried, then with the German Under-18s and U20s as an assistant and, ultimately, to St. Pauli.Hurzeler still does often think about the U.S. and how his brief time in America as a child impacted him. "I think I always will be connected to the United States because, in the end, it's the land I was born," he says. "I would say I have some typical attitudes of Americans. My character is just open-minded. I'll always be open-minded to everything, to everybody and I try to work hard to reach your dream. I think that's one point that always will be connected to the United States."Hurzeler used to visit fairly often. He says Miami is his favourite vacation spot, with time spent in the Everglades being one of his most cherished memories. He "I try to always go on some holidays there because I just love the country," he said. "I love the people, I love the adventure. You always can enjoy that. In former times, when we were young, we always did the holidays with our family there. We'd go get a camping car and we'd drive around different cities. It was amazing. We had an amazing, amazing experiences there and I will never forget it."

American roots

Hired by St. Pauli as an assistant in 2020, Hurzeler was promoted to interim head coach in 2022 when Tim Schultz was fired. Just two weeks later, he was given the job permanently after helping the club return to form, becoming the youngest head coach in the 2. Bundesliga at just 29. That April, St. Pauli rattled off 10 wins in a row, solidifying Hurzeler's place among the best young minds in the German game.This past season, St. Pauli were even better. Under Hurzerler's tutelage, they finished top of the pile, a point clear of second-placed Holsten Kiel, to secure promotion back to the Bundesliga for the first time since 2010-11 for only the club's third top-flight campaign of the new millennium. With admirers all over the world due to their social culture and political stances, St. Pauli's return to the big time will have plenty of eyes on it come August. However, Hurzeler won't be there to oversee it after accepting the role with Brighton.

Success with St. Pauli

It's not easy being a coach, but it's even harder being a coach when a chunk of the players on your team are older than you are. That's the sort of dynamic Hurzeler is constantly working with these days.He knew about that from the start, though. He knew it would be difficult to step into the management role after serving as an assistant, while Hurzeler was also very aware that would be even harder due to his age and inexperience."I can say that it's the honest answer: I didn't feel ready at the moment," he admitted. "At the moment, I didn't feel ready, but I don't think you ever feel ready for a big, big challenge. That was my feeling and what I experienced at that time was to just focus on the things you can influence and just focus on the work. That's my biggest strength."Hurzeler needed to adjust to a whole new life in the spotlight. The focus was on him from the start given his age, but he also had to adjust to the responsibilities that come with being a head coach. Training sessions, man-management, media... all were now his responsibilities and all were things he was learning on the fly.From the start, he knew how important it would be to win over the players, knowing that he wouldn't necessarily command respect from his resume, so he had to do it with his actions. But he also used his background to his advantage as he looked to earn admiration from a group of players roughly around his age."I would say like it's friendly authority," he said. "I've tried to be very open to the players. I tried to give them some ideas on how they could improve. I'm on their level when I talk to them. I'm not the guy who said 'Okay, I'll try to lead from upstairs'. I try to lead and try to use ideas to convince them to do something. I tried to improve them so that they felt that I really cared about their development. I think then they listened more and more and more, and then I feel they really feel it."It's very important that you are authentic, that you are real, that you don't try to be artificial in front of them. That was my first idea. And the second, of course, you have to be an authority because, in the end, you make hard decisions and, in the end, they have to really recognise that you are the person who maybe hurt them."It's not always an easy job as a coach. You have to make tough decisions where maybe some players don't agree, but that's the thing they have to accept. That's also the message you have to transport: that you are the man, the coach, the boss who makes the decision. It's like a balance between the relationship to them also being authority who makes hard decisions."

Commanding respect

St. Pauli are a very, very different club than Bayern Munich. The Bavarians have, of course, dominated German soccer... <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/neverkusen-no-more-how-xabi-alonso-bayer-leverkusen-won-first-bundesliga-title-bayern-munich/blt51f4647cd527170c" target="_blank">well, until this latest season</a>. Even so, there's a certain expectation at the Allianz Arena; anything less than perfection is a failure.At St. Pauli, though, expectations were different. At times, St. Pauli is less a football club and more a movement, a culture, a state of being. The club's successes and failures aren't defined on the field, but rather in its identity. It permeates through everything the club does.Hurzeler felt the best of both worlds. Bayern and St. Pauli have a long history together filled with mutual respect, and Hurzeler has experienced both sides, one as a player and one as a head coach.Hurzeler's time as a Bayern youth player shaped how he approaches the game, on and off the field. He feels a relentless pressure to win and to perform, but to also do it the right way. Winning is the ultimate goal, but getting there is also about how to carry yourself along the way."My time there, it created my personality, because I have to be honest, I was there, I think 10-11 years," he recalled. "At Bayern Munich, you always have to win. You can imagine you're like 10 years old, 11 years old, you go to a tournament and some people there hate you and some people there love you, but in the end, you have to be successful as a Bayern Munich player."The interesting thing is that you don't have to only be successful, but you have to play in a certain way and you have to play a very nice style of soccer. That's what creates my personality and my thinking of my style of play."

Bayern influences

Hurzeler is totally aware that his life isn't normal. No life at the highest levels of soccer is, but his is stranger than most. There are so few coaches his age, so few who can relate to him and the decisions he faces.His normal day starts at 8am, when he arrives at the office, and he often doesn't leave until after 9pm. But at no point during those long days does he ever think about doing anything else."I don't go home and say 'Oh sh*t, I worked so long!'," he sais. "No, I go home and say 'What can I do to really try to improve things?'"There are sleepless nights, though, particularly after defeats. St. Pauli lost two games in a row to begin April and, during that fortnight, Hurzeler obsessed over what he could do differently. He ultimately figured it out, as St. Pauli bounced back with a 2-1 win over Hannover that sparked a run of four wins from five games to secure promotion.Now, as he prepares to land in the Premier League and the attention that comes with that, Hurzeler will know he will have to win around plenty of doubters. The man himself, though, is keen to just enjoy the ride."I think that I'm not living the normal 31-year-old life that a man has," he said. "I'm single, so normally I could go out to a party, but it's not what I really want. I really want to work with people... I really love my job. What I can say is it's my passion. My passion is my job, my hobby is a job. That's something that is really worth it and I really appreciate that I can do this."

Sacrifices

Fabian Hurzeler: The U.S.-born coaching wonderkid dubbed 'the new Nagelsmann' set to become Brighton manager at just 31 | Goal.com United Arab Emirates

Brighton are closing in on appointing St. Pauli coach Fabian Hurzeler, who will become the youngest manager in Premier League history at just 31 years of age

Fabian Hurzeler: The U.S.-born coaching wonderkid dubbed &apos;the new Nagelsmann&apos; set to become Brighton manager at just 31