It was almost a year ago that Roberto De Zerbi visited the Etihad Stadium for the first time. He arrived already under some pressure after taking two points from his first four matches after replacing Graham Potter, who had been head-hunted by Chelsea for his fabulous record with the Seagulls. De Zerbi had already been criticised by Graeme Souness for having had seven jobs in nine years and no Premier League experience, accusing the Italian of just brushing up on his Brighton knowledge on Google.
His Brighton side fell to another defeat at the hands of Manchester City but after the 3-1 loss to the champions, De Zerbi was given the Pep Guardiola seal of approval.
"The game was one of the toughest we could have faced because they propose a type of game that we are not used to, I would say a few teams are not used to," Guardiola said. "Outstanding the way they [Brighton] play. I’m a big admirer of Roberto and the way they play. We felt it, the players know it, how difficult it was."
Guardiola has a habit of overpraising his opponents after City victories but this time he was not exaggerating one bit and he had seen evidence of what was about to come from this most talented and forward-thinking of coaches. Brighton slaughtered Potter's Chelsea 4-1 in their next game and barely looked back, storming to sixth place in the Premier League and qualifying for Europe for the first time.
De Zerbi's stock has rocketed as a result and it is only a matter of time before he too is head-hunted by a bigger club. And there is every chance that club could be Man City, who may have to find a successor for Guardiola in the next two years as the Catalan's contract expires in 2025.
As De Zerbi prepares to face City on Saturday, GOAL explains why the Italian is the ideal man to take the baton from Guardiola whenever he chooses to step down...