FPL Labs@FPLLabs
> be Roberto De Zerbi
> born in Brescia, Italy, 1979
> AC Milan youth academy kid
> never plays a game for Milan's first team
> loaned everywhere
> Monza, Padova, Como
> bounces around Italian football for fifteen years
> Foggia, Arezzo, Catania, Napoli
> a career made of suitcases
> retires and picks up the clipboard
> starts coaching in Serie D
> Darfo Boario, the absolute bottom
> moves to Foggia in Serie C
> wins the Coppa Italia Serie C
> the first sign of something
> Palermo hires him in 2016
> Serie A job, the big time
> seven straight defeats, sacked in three months
> Benevento next
> Serie A newcomers
> relegated, zero wins in his first nine games
> but the football is beautiful
> everyone notices the style
> the results just don't match
> Sassuolo gives him three years
> the longest he's ever stayed anywhere
> two consecutive eighth-place finishes
> a tiny club from Emilia
> playing like Barcelona
> Guardiola starts watching
> leaves for Shakhtar Donetsk in 2021
> wins the Ukrainian Super Cup
> top of the league when Russia invades
> flees Ukraine
> the season never finishes
> the world changes overnight
> Brighton hires him September 2022
> replaces Graham Potter
> first game: 3-3 at Anfield
> beats Potter's Chelsea 4-1
> in his first month
> the statement is immediate
> takes Brighton to sixth
> their highest ever finish
> first European qualification in history
> Guardiola calls him
> "one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years"
> "unique, like a Michelin-star restaurant"
> gets a red card for yelling at a referee
> says Premier League refereeing is "very bad"
> fined £15,000, banned one game, zero regrets
> second season: drops to eleventh
> the magic fades
> leaves Brighton at the end of 23/24
> Barcelona links, Bayern links, Liverpool links
> every big club circles
> none of them hire him
> Marseille gives him a three-year deal
> the most chaotic club in France
> meets the most combustible manager in Europe
> first season: second place finish
> no European football to navigate
> it works
> second season: everything explodes
> threatens to quit multiple times
> accuses his own players of humiliating him
> refuses to train the team
> players fight each other in training
> Rabiot and Rowe both shipped out
> cries in the dressing room after losing to PSG
> "I've never cried after a defeat"
> "but today I did"
> says he wants to be the longest-serving coach in Marseille history
> two months later
> sacked after a 5-0 loss to PSG
> best win percentage of any Marseille manager this century
> still got fired
> the De Zerbi experience in one sentence
> Dugarry calls him "overrated"
> "he coached Sassuolo and Brighton
> but speaks as if he's won two Champions Leagues"
> now Tottenham comes calling
> one point above relegation
> seven games to save their Premier League status
> five-year contract offered
> to a man whose longest job lasted three years
> at a club that might not be in the top flight in May
> agreement in principle reached
> Sky Sports confirms it
> the Michelin-star chef is being hired to work a food truck
Guardiola called him a genius
Marseille called him a problem
Spurs called him on a Monday
one point above the drop with seven games left
and they handed him a five-year deal
only Tottenham could turn a relegation battle
into a fine dining experiment