Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi has explained how a meeting with former Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa had a profound impact on his development as a football manager.
The Italian has earned plenty of praise in the last 12 months since taking the reins at Brighton and establishing a high-quality and entertaining playing style that has helped the Seaguls qualify for Europe. But in many interviews with Brighton players, they speak not just of the tactician in charge, but of the man-manager that de Zerbi is also.
And in an interview back in Italy, de Zerbi has revealed how a meeting with former Leeds boss Bielsa, while the Uruguayan was still in charge of French Ligue 1 side Lille, made him realise that being a great football manager is about more than just tactics.
Speaking to Viral Sport TV, and translated by Juani Jimena, the Seagulls boss said: "Do you know what is the greatness of Bielsa? It's mostly the type of person he is. I like to unify football with life. When I went to visit him [in Lille] for a week with my staff, he welcomed me in the training centre.
READ MORE: Roberto De Zerbi opens up on Marcelo Bielsa influence
"We walked for two or three hours. We spent two hours walking with him. The first hour we spent talking about what life was for him, his thoughts on football and life. The second hour we talked about tactics.
"The guy doesn't just talk to you about football, he talks to you about other things. Even now, here we are, and we're not just talking about tactics we're talking about life. Being identified as a great strategist etc, that doesn't interest me.
Bielsa's greatness has to do with the other side - he manages to move you through his life, with his experience, with his city, and his entire career. What is the greatness that these people have to be able to excite you? It's not just about football, football is only one part.
"Because if you only talk about football you become an automaton that can only talk about one thing, and you don't know anything about the other things. Of course, I try to convey everything through football, but it goes further.
"About Bielsa, a friend gave me his phone number so I wrote to Bielsa introducing myself. Two days after sending the message he calls me on the phone. 'Hello, I'm Marcelo...' I didn't even believe it was him. But if he did this with me, when I wasn't even famous... He made me realise that in addition to talking about 3-4-3, 4-3-3, there are other things first."
