Italian managerial legend Fabio Capello has launched a stinging attack on Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi, branding him as "third tier".
De Zerbi joined the Seagulls in September 2022, leading them to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League and to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. But this season has been more of a struggle for De Zerbi's troops.
They currently sit tenth in the top-flight, with two games of their campaign remaining. The Seagulls were also dumped out of the FA Cup in the fifth round, knocked out of the Carabao Cup in their first game and failed to get past the last 16 in the Europa League.
Even so, the Italian has been widely reported to be Pep Guardiola's top choice to replace him at Manchester City. But his performance in the dugout has now been slammed by Capello, who won seven league titles during his managerial career.
"I would put De Zerbi in the third tier. There is a lot of talk about him as one of the top coaches because Guardiola sponsors him, but this year he is tenth or eleventh in the standings. What has he won in his career? Let's look at his CV: he has only won one cup in Ukraine," Capello told Sky Sports.
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Capello's latest blast follows on from last week, when he claimed that De Zerbi is being 'sponsored' by Guardiola. He told Gazzetta dello Sport: "He is a prepared coach, who asserts his ideas wherever he coaches and has a very respectable sponsor like Guardiola.
"Up to this moment, however, no one has come forward despite his name being linked to the benches of the big clubs. And then with Brighton he has a clause of 15 million: honestly it seems too much to free a manager."
De Zerbi has endured a difficult second campaign as Brighton manager (CameraSport via Getty Images)Brighton bring their season to a close with the visit of Chelsea on Wednesday before hosting Manchester United on Sunday. And De Zerbi has set his sights on securing a top-half finish before undergoing a reset this summer.
“To finish in the top ten would be a great result, and I think better than last season because we have had a lot of injuries and we have played in the Europa League. I’m really pleased with the performance today," he said after Saturday's draw with Newcastle.
"We played against one of the best teams in terms of physical condition in this moment. In this stadium the atmosphere is incredible, the level of difficulty of this game was high. But we played in our style, with courage and ideas.
"We are not in the best moment in my time but we have to play with personality and ideas and I’m pleased we did that today. We suffered in the last 25 minutes and their four changes made a difference.
"But we have to be proud of the performance. We have two tough home games, but we would like to finish in the top ten."
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