De Zerbi: Pep is happy I’m at Brighton

BRIGHTON manager Roberto De Zerbi revealed yesterday he was welcomed to the Premier League by Pep Guardiola. Guardiola and De Zerbi share a mutual admiration after first meeting while the former was in charge of Bayern Munich. Former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk boss De Zerbi, the only manager Brighton spoke to in their search for a successor to Graham Potter, said: ‘I spoke to Pep on Sunday evening. Yes. He’s very happy that I’m on board here. He told me very good things about the club. And he told me that if I need he will be very happy to help me — but of course not in the match we are playing against them! ‘Guardiola, I think, is the trainer of the strongest team of the last 40 years, Barcelona. We met each other when he was the manager of Bayern Munich. A couple of months ago I flew to Manchester to see him. He is a great trainer and we are all looking at him.’ De Zerbi described Guardiola’s football as ‘unreachable’ and while he said some of their ideas will be similar, he also praised his predecessor. ‘I’m not Potter,’ De Zerbi added. ‘If we can keep this mentality and those principles (from Potter’s reign) I will try to bring my idea much more clear without making any big changes.’