'Big transfer' – Roberto De Zerbi reveals the player 'I wanted' to replace Moises Caicedo at Brighton

Roberto De Zerbi was in charge at Brighton when the Seagulls sold Moises Caicedo to Chelsea for an eye-watering £115m.

Caicedo was a key man for De Zerbi’s midfield and Albion struggled to replace the talented Ecuadorian – and Alexis Mac Allister, who left for Liverpool for £35m in the same window.

Despite signing a talented but raw Carlos Baleba from Lille for around £23m, Brighton relied heavily on the experienced Pascal Gross (now Borussia Dortmund) and Billy Gilmour (now Napoli), while free transfer signing Mo Dahoud failed to adapt to the Premier League and has since moved on to Eintracht Frankfurt.

De Zerbi though revealed this week he wanted Algeria international Ismaël Bennacer at the Amex Stadium following Caicedo’s exit.

The Italian, now manager at Marseille, has finally landed his man as Bennacer, 27, joined De Zerbi in the south of France following a deadline day loan deal from AC Milan until the end of the season. Marseille also have the option sign him permanently for around £10m at the end of the season.

“I wanted him to come [to Brighton] when Moises Caicedo went to Chelsea,” said De Zerbi, who has guided Marseille to second in Ligue 1 in his first season there.

“It is a big transfer for us. His characteristics suit our style of play. He is a complete player, a top player and another one for us.

"He really wanted to come to Marseille. We already spoke about him in August, but we didn’t manage to conclude it. When Medhi Benatia told me that there was the possibility to do it, we stopped the music,” added De Zerbi.

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The Italian joined Brighton in 2022 to replace Graham Potter who moved on to Chelsea. De Zerbi proved a popular figure with the fans but his fiery and out-spoken nature sometimes caused issues at the club.

He led Brighton to Europa League football for the first time in their history and they topped their group, which included Ajax, Marseille and AEK, before losing to Roma in the round of 16.

Brighton’s form dipped after that and De Zerbi left the club at the end of the 2023-24 by “mutual consent” after failing to reach an agreement on how to move forward.

Brighton then embarked on a £200m summer spend and brought in 31-year-old Fabian Hurzeler from St Pauli as there new head coach. The Seagulls are currently 10th in the Premier League table and they welcome Caicedo and Chelsea to the Amex Stadium today in the fourth round of the FA Cup.