Brighton CEO Paul Barber gushes over brilliant way Roberto De Zerbi impressed at manager job interview

Brighton Chief Executive Paul Barber has given fans a fascinating insight into the interview process that went into hiring Roberto De Zerbi following the departure of Graham Potter to Chelsea.

Many feared how the seaside club would fare when Potter's near three-and-a-half-year tenure came to an end in September after his fantastic work at the Amex. However, De Zerbi has hit the ground running with Brighton sitting eighth in the league and are unbeaten in their 10 matches of 2023.

Barber was visited by Jermaine Defoe who is currently recording a BBC Sounds podcast titled Outside The Box as he weighs up a career in management.

The former Spurs star picked Barber's brains about what exactly his role is and what a successful club like Brighton look for when hiring a first-team boss.

The Chief Executive shared anecdotes from when Chris Hughton oversaw the club's rise to the Premier League and then explained how they knew De Zerbi was the right man for the job.

He said: "Roberto was our number one choice to replace Graham when he went to Chelsea.

"When Roberto arrived in London from Italy for the interview he had an incredible knowledge of our players and the games we'd played this season up until the point Graham left.

"He said, I know for example Lallana's best position for me would be there, Solly March in there. He had a picture in his head even before he got the job of how he would set us up.

"That impressed us because he showed us he was interested in us and had done a lot of homework on us. That he was going to look to make the best use of the squad Graham Potter assembled and that we wouldn't have to go into the transfer market in January and make massive changes.

"That's really attractive to us as we knew we had a decent squad and a good squad, it was just a question of whether the coach that came in could build on what Graham had done."

Barber shared a similar story from when he interviewed Chris Hughton in 2014. The former Seagulls manager arrived knowing the squad "inside out" and set out a three-year plan for promotion to the top flight, which he executed.

Barber said: "When we're interviewing the manager we're looking not only for their football attributes and coaching skills but their people management skills and their buy-in to how the club operates.

"That's really important to us, you can have some really talented people in any organisation but if they don't share your values you're going to come into a problem. We try and recruit in the way we like the club to be.

"The best example over the years was Chris, he was the personification of our club. Chris Hughton was high integrity, unbelievable work ethic, proper gentleman, great communicator, players loved him, fans loved him, staff loved him, media loved him. he did a fantastic job because he worked so hard."