The timing is just too convenient! Brighton and Hove Albion shocked the footballing world by announcing that manager Roberto de Zerbi is set to leave the club at the end of the season. With only a home game against Manchester United remaining, De Zerbi will end an extremely successful spell that has seen him become the apple of the eye of European clubs.
However, as said in the first line, the timing is just too convenient. A day after Thomas Tuchel announced that he was not going to make a U-turn and stay at Bayern Munich, De Zerbi’s departure is announced.
So, is De Zerbi Bayern bound?
Roberto de Zerbi-Bayern Munich makes sense
The Italian has been mentioned as a candidate for every big European job that has come up or was set to come up in the summer. From Manchester United to Chelsea, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, De Zerbi was a hot name.
However, he had kept insisting that he was focused on the project at hand and loved being at Brighton. Still, it seems like the lure of a European heavyweight has proved to be too much.
While no announcement has been made on his future club, it is not hard to line up the events chronologically. Brighton aren’t doing badly at all, so his leaving due to a lack of results doesn’t line up.
Therefore, it only makes sense if De Zerbi made his wishes clear about leaving and Brighton, ready as ever, didn’t stand in his way.
Bayern is the perfect job for him in the current circumstances. After an embarrassing head coach search that, until recently, looked set to complete with them going back to Tuchel, De Zerbi will walk in as a man of power.
The fact that Bayern faced so many rejections in their search means that any potential manager coming in would have them singing to his tunes. De Zerbi is a strong character who demands constant improvement and ambition. Bayern board will know they are getting an inflammable character who needs to be satisfied at every point.
The situation couldn’t be better for both, the manager and the club. For De Zerbi, the game is obvious. He walks into a European heavyweight, a reward for his overachievement with clubs like Sassuolo, Brighton, and Shakhtar. Moreover, he does so with more power and prestige than he could have expected due to the circumstances surrounding Bayern’s head coach search.
For the club, it is a huge get. De Zerbi was the crown jewel of the managerial transfer market and to conclude their search by landing such a name, just a day after Tuchel said there would be no extension, if a great move for optics.
Even on the pitch, De Zerbi will finally bring fresh ideas and renewed drive to succeed as Bayern are set to undergo a team overhaul. Some veterans could be departing and they will give the new man all the support he needs.
This is, of course, all theory right now since the only confirmed thing is De Zerbi has left Brighton, not that he has joined Bayern. But we’ll end it the same way we began. The timing is just too convenient for it to be a coincidence.
