De Zerbi | Shakhtar manager

[Bepi]

I am surprised there is no dedicated thread yet for Roberto De Zerbi, the only relatively young (42 yo) progressive coach from Italy, now working abroad at Shakthar Donetsk to climb the international ladder? I suspect he will be hot property for a notable gig two years down the line, so it could be worth a watch.

He was a gifted short fantasista as a player in the 00s, roaming between Serie B and Serie C, and having Dejan Savicevic as idol. He then went on coaching at Serie C’s Foggia (pretty notably, in June 2016 he met Gattuso’s Pisa in a fiercely contested playoff final) , Serie A’s Sassuolo and now Shakhtar in Ukraine.

He is considered an eager student of the game who likes to play possession football, while fielding 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 as you can see from this very recent video from Ukraine. Not sure he is suited for the PL yet, possibly fitting better in the Bundesliga or the Netherlands. One way or the other, he is uncoventionally brilliant already and his career might really take off in a few years, that’s why this thread.

 

[Lash]

He's definitely someone I'd look as a potential Ole replacement. His Sassulo side were fun to watch.

He's a bit mad though isn't he? seems to regularly get booked from what I can remember when I check in on flash scores.

 

[Bastian]

Can't say I've followed his career. I think for a club like United he'd be a risk as we'd need to see him do well in a top league or pull up trees in Europe. Fonseca did really well at Shaktar and then was decidedly average at Roma. Very hard to evaluate the quality of the Ukrainian league. We bought Fred from Shaktar for around 50m. Maybe worth half that, at a strong push.

Has he not been linked to any of the bigger clubs in Italy? Was he in the running to replace Conte at Inter?

 

[Bepi]

He's definitely someone I'd look as a potential Ole replacement. His Sassulo side were fun to watch.

He's a bit mad though isn't he? seems to regularly get booked from what I can remember when I check in on flash scores.

He has a temper for sure, not in a malicious way though.

Can't say I've followed his career. I think for a club like United he'd be a risk as we'd need to see him do well in a top league or pull up trees in Europe. Fonseca did really well at Shaktar and then was decidedly average at Roma. Very hard to evaluate the quality of the Ukrainian league. We bought Fred from Shaktar for around 50m. Maybe worth half that, at a strong push.

Has he not been linked to any of the bigger clubs in Italy? Was he in the running to replace Conte at Inter?

He was in contention for Lazio, Napoli and Fiorentina in the Summer. All went different paths (Sarri, Spalletti, another youngster named Italiano, respectively) and he chose to go abroad and play the Champions League. His group with Real, Inter and Sheriff is proving too challenging, while he is doing very well domestically and against old fox Lucescu’s Dynamo Kiyv.

He will surely need another intermediate step or two before aiming at a very big club.

 

[Bastian]

He was in contention for Lazio, Napoli and Fiorentina in the Summer. All went different paths (Sarri, Spalletti, another youngster named Italiano, respectively) and he chose to go abroad and play the Champions League. His group with Real, Inter and Sheriff is proving too challenging, while he is doing very well domestically and against old fox Lucescu’s Dynamo Kiyv.

He will surely need another intermediate step or two before aiming at a very big club.

Italiano, what a name

You've made me interested to take a look at Shakhtar next chance I get.

 

[Bepi]

Italiano, what a name

You've made me interested to take a look at Shakhtar next chance I get.

Italian surnames really deserve an anthology for variety and ingenuity. Here we go with Italiano (Italian), Inglese (English), Tedesco (German), Spagnolo (Spanish), Danese (Danish), Marocchino (Moroccan), the most notable among past/present footballers or coaches with their surname from location heritage.

And yes, Champions League day 5 will feature a tasty Inter - Shakhtar, a nice opportunity to have a look at both coaches.

 

[Bepi]

Brighton manager, here-we-go.