Brighton & Hove Albion CEO Paul Barber has admitted that the club are "prepared" for the departure of head coach Roberto De Zerbi.
The Italian succeeded Graham Potter as Seagulls boss in September last year and has since elevated the club to new heights whilst implementing an attractive brand of football and developing several highly-rated young prospects.
De Zerbi successfully steered Brighton to a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last season – their highest-ever top-flight finish – and as a result qualified for the Europa League for the first time in their history.
Brighton recently suffered a dip in form heading into November's international break amid an injury crisis, but they are still in contention to qualify from their Europa League group and are battling at the right end of the Premier League table.
De Zerbi has received plenty of plaudits for his achievements with Brighton and the 44-year-old has subsequently been linked with a some of the top clubs in Europe including Real Madrid and Manchester United.
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A recent report claims that Man United's incoming minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is planning to replace current manager Erik ten Hag with De Zerbi, while Real Madrid have allegedly identified the Italian as a possible replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, who is expected to take the Brazil job in the summer of 2024.
Although Brighton intend to keep hold of De Zerbi, who is under contract until June 2026, Seagulls chief Barber has admitted that several top clubs are keeping tabs on their manager.
"Good players and good staff will always be looked at by competitors, and we're prepared for that, we're realistic about that and we try to plan for those eventualities," Barber told talkSPORT at the 2023 Soccerex event in Miami.
"When we unfortunately lost Graham Potter to Chelsea it was a difficult period, because you don't want to lose your head coach one month into the season. We always have a small list of coaches that we would look to move to if we had to, Roberto was top of that list.
"So far things have worked really well, we're enjoying what Roberto is doing for us and what this squad of players is delivering. Roberto has done a fabulous job and I don't think anyone in world football hasn't seen the way he plays and the way we play.
"The biggest conundrum with our model is the better we do, the more vulnerable we become, because people look at what we're doing, how we're doing it, the people who are doing it for us, and they want them. We've seen that many, many times, whether it's Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool, Moises Caicedo and Graham Potter to Chelsea, Yves Bissouma to Tottenham, and staff we've lost along the way as well, Dan Ashworth to Newcastle – it's on and off the field.
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"But I take that as a big complement to the progress we're making and it's incumbent on me to make sure we've got succession plans in place to manage and overcome those bumps in the road, because at the end of the day every football club will lose players and staff at some point, we just have to make sure we're ready and prepared for it when it happens to us."
Asked if Brighton have a replacement lined up in case De Zerbi departs, Barber said: "Absolutely. That's part and parcel of looking at the top 20 or 25 positions in our club all the time and identifying who's vulnerable to being taken by somebody else or who may simply just want a change in lifestyle and making sure we know if that happened who would be coming in to replace them.
"That might be an internal appointment or an external appointment, but the most important thing is that we have an idea who it would be. There's nothing worse than suddenly facing a change and then having a gap because you haven't done the homework to consider who would replace that person. Preparation is critical."
"We protect ourselves as far as we can contractually and financially," Barber added. "And also we try to create an environment where our best people want to stay with us, and that's served us well over many years now, but we're also realistic when they want to move on."
De Zerbi has won 26, drawn 12 and lost 18 of his 56 matches in charge of Brighton, who currently sit eighth in the Premier League table, just one point behind Newcastle United in seventh and seven points adrift of the top four.
