Brighton owner Tony Bloom has aimed a dig at Roberto De Zerbi by claiming his successor Fabian Hurzeler has bought into the club’s philosophy more than he did.
De Zerbi departed the Amex Stadium at the end of last season after reaching a mutual agreement with Bloom and is now in charge at Ligue 1 side Marseille.
The fiery Italian led the Seagulls to sixth during his first season in charge, their highest-ever Premier League finish securing European qualification for the first time, but is understood to have held differing views on the transfer market to Bloom.
Bloom alluded to this irreconcilable difference during an interview with The Athletic, in which he discussed Hurzeler and his superb start to life on the south coast.
‘The process hasn’t changed, the philosophy hasn’t changed, but it is fair to say Fabian has bought into it a lot more than his predecessor,’ Bloom said.
‘Roberto had thoughts on certain players, but that is not the way we as a club work.
‘The club will decide on the players potentially to bring into the club, in conjunction with the head coach.
‘It’s not a situation, the way we work, that the head coach says, “I like this player and that player”, and that’s what we do (in terms of signings).
‘If a head coach has some ideas, that comes in as part of the process, but a head coach really liking a player has got to fit many characteristics, it has got to fit with the data analysis we do.
‘When Roberto came in, we explained the process and the philosophy.
‘If there is non-alignment between the head coach and the club, things are never going to work out long-term.’
De Zerbi stepped down just two years into the four-year contract he signed in September 2022 and Brighton turned to former St Pauli boss Hurzeler, aged just 31.
He has been significantly backed this summer by Bloom, who took over in 2009, with Brighton splashing out almost £200million during the transfer window – an amount that proved the second-biggest outlay in the world and behind only Chelsea.
The club are third in the table after their first three league matches of the season, having beaten Manchester United at home and drawn away at Arsenal.
Hurzeler demanded more from his players after collecting an impressive point at the Emirates, however, saying: ‘We have to be consistent in all phases of the game.
‘(There were) too many moments we were not controlling the game, like we want to control it like in especially the first 15 minutes.
‘We wanted to be more courageous with the ball.’
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