Why Brighton named Fabian Hurzeler as the Premier League’s youngest manager

Brighton & Hove Albion have further enhanced their reputation for bold thinking by identifying 31-year-old Fabian Hurzeler, from German Bundesliga newcomers St Pauli, as a replacement for former head coach Roberto De Zerbi.

Hurzeler becomes the youngest permanent director of the first division It was after the departure of De Zerbi at the end of the season by mutual agreement.

The appointment of Hurzeler, who was born in Houston, Texas, as his parents worked temporarily in the United States, is intriguing. Why have Brighton Did they sink their teeth into the son of a Swiss dentist with a German mother who has shone in the left-wing club of the country he has considered his home since he was a child?

As always, the answer is owner and president Tony Bloom’s algorithm, the basis for Brighton’s data-driven recruitment of coaches and players.

He is constantly updated and confirmed that Hurzeler was a good fit through his exploits at St Pauli. Graham Potter, the head coach from May 2019 until his departure to Chelsea in September 2022, he was also considered with Henrik Rydstrom from Malmö, former Nottingham Forest Manager Steve Cooper was not on the roster, but Hurzeler stood out.

Appointed assistant to Timo Schultz at St Pauli in 2020 with responsibility for opposition and video analysis, he was promoted to interim and then permanent head coach after Schultz was sacked in December 2022.

Over the past 18 months, Hurzeler has taken St Pauli from outside the 2. Bundesliga relegation zone on goal difference to promotion to the top flight, as champions, for the first time in 14 years.

Brighton want to continue the philosophy of playing from the back, which Potter started when he succeeded Chris Hughton and which De Zerbi accentuated during the Italian’s 20 months in charge.

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De Zerbi took this to a new level by using the goalkeeper as an additional outfield player and starting the team build in or near the box. The choice of Hurzeler has maintained the policy of playing the field. As an example of whether Hurzeler fits that profile, the fact that St Pauli had the shortest average goal shot length at 2. Bundesliga Last season is a decent track.

The three centre-backs in their preferred formation, the 3-4-3, are key in the initial phase. A high percentage of possession, patience to start in the build-up, provoking the opposition’s pressure and then attacking with pace and mobility are common characteristics of Hurzeler’s methods and the success that De Zerbi had in guiding Brighton to sixth place and European League ranking in his first season at Sussex.

Brighton were at their offensive best under De Zerbi when Kaoru Mitoma and solly march They were fit and operating together. Inverted wingers have also influenced St Pauli’s success under Hurzeler. On the right, former Bolton tramps Winger Oladapo Afolayan contributed nine goals and three assists in 31 league games last season, while on the left, Elias Saad scored seven goals and provided two assists in 30 league games.

Hurzeler has improved Afolayan and Saad in the same way that De Zerbi improved Mitoma and March. The German sees himself primarily as a coach who wants to be on the pitch and improve the players.

Afolayan, born in Harrow and previously in Chelsea’s academy, had never played higher than League One with Bolton before joining St Pauli in the January 2023 transfer window.

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Saad, who had never played beyond the fourth level when he arrived from Eintracht Norderstedt in the same January 2023 transfer window, became a Tunisian international under Hurzeler and made his international debut in March this year.

Hurzeler watched De Zerbi’s Brighton on their trip to England during the Bundesliga winter break, and also participated in matches involving city ​​of manchester and Arsenal.

He said: “It’s no secret that I simply see principles that suit us and that we try to implement. New ideas and new possibilities have also been added. Of course, they are still different types of players. So there is no point in copying to another computer. But you can extract elements.”

There are other similarities between Hurzeler and De Zerbi. Both have been more successful as coaches than as players. Hurzeler was a central midfielder in the Bayern Munich youth academy, with Emre Can and Peter-Emile Hojbjerg as teammates. Erik ten Hag coached him in the fourth division when he was 20, but he never made it past the reserve team.

He then played for four fourth and fifth tier clubs, guiding Pipinsried to promotion to the fourth tier in 2016-17 as player-coach. He retired at the age of 29 in 2022 to concentrate on coaching, having also worked as an assistant for the Germany under-18 and under-20 teams.

Hurzeler’s path echoes De Zerbi’s in some ways. A maverick number 10, De Zerbi was a youth player in AC MilanHe spent most of his playing career at lower league clubs in Italy before beginning training with Darfo Boario in the fourth tier at the age of 34.

Both are also united by charisma and lively behavior in the technical field. Hurzeler had amassed seven cards through February in St Pauli’s march to promotion, eclipsing De Zerbi’s five yellow cards in 2023-24.

Away from the heat of battle, they are once again similar in their football intensity, obsessed with watching the games and with tactics and systems.

But there are also differences. The biggest change Hurzeler made at St Pauli was defensive. A solid 5-2-3 off-ball formation gave them a top-three defensive record in each of their two full seasons. Brighton ranked 10th in comparison in the two full seasons under De Zerbi.

They are also likely to be less likely to suffer big defeats – De Zerbi’s side were beaten by four goals or more on five occasions during their adventurous 89-match reign. Brighton feel Hurzeler fits in very well because he is a little tighter defensively but still has the desire to attack.

Despite his tender age, during conversations he was measured, calm and eloquent, more similar to Potter in that sense than to De Zerbi.

The biggest and most significant difference is that the gap over the profile of the players the club is targeting that caused De Zerbi’s departure is unlikely to be repeated.

De Zerbi wanted more established (and expensive) players in their twenties, but Brighton are concentrating on developing youngsters with a handful of old heads to guide them. During Hurzeler’s two full seasons in charge, six of the 14 players recruited by St Pauli were no older than 23, while three others were at least 30.

Once the objectives have been discussed, he is happy to leave it in the hands of the club. He continues to coach the players. He is not interested in getting involved in transactions and transfer negotiations. That fits the Brighton model.

Hurzeler will feel comfortable with Brighton’s recruitment strategy. In return, the club should receive a younger version of De Zerbi’s brilliant tactical mind, but without the hassle.

(Top photo: Selim Sudheimer/Getty Images)