The Seagulls are the seventh different club that De Zerbi has joined as head coach in the last nine years, the Italian signing a four-year contract at the Amex.
De Zerbi’s last job was in charge of Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, which he left in July, 2022, with the Donbass Arena outfit topping the table in the Ukrainian Premier League at the time of the Russian invasion.
Barber was quick to point out that the Brighton hierarchy went into great detail over the Italian tactician’s track record, with particular emphasis given to the last five years of his coaching career.
De Zerbi took coaching jobs in difficult circumstances and did not last too long at them as a result, with his longest spell early in his coaching career being a two-year spell at Foggia in Serie C.
Of particular interest to the Seagulls was the time he spent in charge of Serie A side Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk, almost leading the former to Champions League qualification at the end of the 2020/21 season.
“We would look into the CV in more detail and we would look into more detail as to why he left certain jobs at certain times and of course, we did our homework on that”, Barber said on talkSPORT.
“I think of more interest to us was not so much the earlier part of his career when he was a very young coach who just finished playing.
“He went into a couple of clubs that were struggling at the time with challenging circumstances.
“I think we looked more about the last half a decade, the time at Sassuolo, the time at Shakhtar and took a lot of references from people that have worked with him and knew him.”
Brighton are presently in fourth place in the Premier League table and will travel to Anfield at the start of October.
